Final days! Closes Saturday, January 12, 2013
3rd Floor Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 12 - 6 pm (Wednesdays until 7 pm)
Free exhibition admission
Saga-Sites is a unique exhibition tracking the great, medieval narratives of Iceland - known collectively as the Íslendingasögur, or the Sagas of Icelanders - through the 19th-century watercolors of British artist W. G. Collingwood and the personal, documentary photographs of renowned Icelandic artist Einar Falur Ingólfsson. The first of its kind in the United States, the exhibition explores the inimitable visual dialogue forged between Collingwood and Ingólfsson - working over a century apart - and highlights the significance of the sagas within Iceland's literary heritage and their enduring cultural inspiration.
The exhibition comprises more than 60 original watercolors and contemporary photographs, all drawn from the artists' respective journeys to the legendary sites of the sagas - Collingwood's in 1897 and Ingólfsson's 110 years later, using Collingwood's travels as a "guide." The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to view the physical environs of these captivating narratives set in the Viking Age, revisited and reinterpreted centuries later.
Exhibiton-related Programs:
The Saga-Sites of Iceland
A 21st-Century Pilgrimage
Saturday, January 5, 2:30 pm
Free
In 2011, scholar Emily Lethbridge read 30 medieval Icelandic sagas "in situ" across Iceland. In the short documentary "Memories of Old Awake" (filmed during this trip and included in Saga-Sites), Lethbridge examines how one saga, Gísla saga Súrssonar, still resonates today in the landscape in which its action unfolds. In her lecture, she will talk about her '21st-century saga pilgrimage', and how her fieldwork was inspired by, converged with, and diverged from, W.G. Collingwood's 19th-century explorations of these same saga-sites.
Saturday Morning Storytelling
Gudrun of Laxdæla Saga with Chris Potts
Saturday, January 12, 11 am
Free, ages 5+
Some of New York's most famous storytellers bring to life exciting tales of mythical creatures and fantastic adventures from Scandinavia and the far North.
Saga-Sites Mobile Audio Tour
Use your cell phone to hear excerpts of selected sagas from the exhibition read aloud by critically-acclaimed Icelandic actor Thorvaldur David Kristjansson. Call 212.514.0013 to begin the FREE Guide by Cell audio tour (no cost except your minutes).
Visit scandinaviahouse.org for more information on Saga-Sites and exhibition-related programs.
Saga-Sites is presented by The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) and organized by The National Museum of Iceland. The exhibition was curated by Thorbjörg Gunnardóttir.
The ASF gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Icelandair and the Consulate General of Iceland in New York in helping to make this exhibition possible. Additional support has been provided by Arion Bank; Eimskip; The Blue Lagoon; The Cobb Family Foundation/Hon. Charles E. Cobb, Jr.; Hrafnhildur and Kristján Tómas Ragnarsson, M.D.; Bjorn Thorbjarnarson, M.D; Magnús Gústafsson; and Elisha F. Lee.
Above images, left to right: W.G. Collingwood, Hlíðarendi in Fljótshlíð, August 4, 1897, 1897. The National Museum of Iceland. Einar Falur Ingólfsson, Hlíðarendi in Fljótshlíð (15.07.2009), 2009. Courtesy of the artist.