Steinn Steinarr - The Later Years

The Later Years

Ever since Iceland had obtained its independence from Denmark in 1918 the arts in Iceland had been on a roll. Then the Depression set in and by 1939 professional artists could no longer survive without government stipends and handouts. At that very moment in time one of the nation’s most powerful politician, Jónas frá Hriflu, was put in charge of government funding of the arts. The timing could not have been more unfortunate. Jonas was a cultural reactionary who considered all forms of modern art "degenerate" and anyone who opposed him a “Communist”.

Meanwhile, thanks to the war, avant-garde artists from around the world were returning home in droves full of new and revolutionary ideas, dying to turn this cultural backwater upside down. Among the newcomers were two young and attractive abstract painters, Louisa Matthíasdóttir and Nína Tryggvadóttir, fresh from their studies in Paris. Erlendur suggested that Steinn model for Nína. Through Nína he soon met and modeled for Louisa. Before long Steinn and “his girls” were the talk of town.

In May 1940, the Allied occupation of Iceland began. Finally Iceland’s economy began to pick up steam. The same year Steinn’s third book of poems, Footprints in Sand (Fótspor í sandi) came out and was well received. For the first time he was earning a bit of money from his poetry. Meanwhile, Louisa was beginning to turn his life around. From now on some of his greatest poetry would be inspired by his deepening love and admiration for her. They even began to work on a book together based on his poem about a little country girl, Halla. Just as his fourth and most successful book of poetry to date, Journey without Destination (Ferð án fyrirheits), hit the stores – in December 1942 - Louisa went to New York to continue her studies. Not long after Nina joined her.

In 1943 Steinn’s brilliant satire about Hitler and the Nazis, The Tin Soldiers (Tindátarnir), superbly illustrated by Nína, came out. In 1948, he married his former girlfriend, Ásthildur Björnsdottir. The same year his masterpiece, Time and Water, was finally published securing his reputation as Iceland’s foremost modern poet. In 1955 Halldór Laxness, his mentor and ally, received the Nobel Prize for literature. Steinn Steinarr died three years later, on May 25, 1958. He was 49 years old. His widow, Ásthildur, died on July 18, 1998. She was 81. After Louisa died in the year 2000 the manuscript that they worked on together, Halla, was finally rediscovered and published. The book became Steinn Steinarr’s seventh and final book of poetry.