Johan Steffan Danielsen (3 September 1922 – 28 May 1976) was a Faroese painter.
Life and work
The self-taught artist Steffan Danielsen was born in
Nólsoy,
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...
. He found most of the inspiration for his pictures in his home village Nólsoy and the island of same name. In his art Danielsen distils the essence of the landscape in an original way.
Bárður Jákupsson in his book ''Færøernes billedkunst'' (Färöi screen end art) compares Danielsen with the classical author
Sámal Mikines, who lived on a similarly small, remote and inaccessible
Faroe Island:
Mykines. Both islands have important bird colonies and both islands have only one village. Danielsen spent most of his 24 productive years on Nólsoy, with just one period abroad in
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
between 1951 and 1956. His first exhibition in 1952 in
Ólavsøka brought him to the attention of the Faroese art community.
Danielsen's paintings describe his homeland island in everyday detail, capturing not only the landscapes, boats, buildings but also the atmosphere and spirit of the place. He captures the light, with sun and rain, snow and fog, and the predominantly red tones allude sensitively to the colour nuances of the Faroese landscape.
Danielsen died in
Tórshavn
Tórshavn (; ; Danish language, Danish: ''Thorshavn''), usually locally referred to as simply Havn, is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of th ...
, Faroe Islands.
Gallery
His paintings of Nólsoy were featured on a series of Faroese stamps in 1990:
Image:Faroe stamp 201 steffan danielsen - nolsoy.jpg, FR 201
Image:Faroe stamp 202 steffan danielsen - nolsoy.jpg, FR 202
Image:Faroe stamp 203 steffan danielsen - nolsoy.jpg, FR 203
Image:Faroe stamp 204 steffan danielsen - nolsoy.jpg, FR 204
and also in this stamp of 1985:
Image:Faroe stamp 114 steffan danielsen.jpg, Stamp FR 114: ''Winter day'', Nólsoy 1959, 65x87cm, Listasavn Føroya (The Faroe Islands Art Museum)
See also
*
Art of the Faroe Islands
External links
Art.fo - art museum of the Faroes
Faroeartstamps.fo - art on Faroese stamps
1922 births
1976 deaths
20th-century Faroese painters
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