Icelandic Photography 1846–1946

Abstract

In the summer of 1840, Helgi Sigurosson (1815–88) went as a student to Copenhagen, capital of Denmark, and thus also of Iceland, which was then a Danish colony.1 He can hardly have imagined then that he would become a pioneer of photography in Iceland. Daguerre's invention was already well known in Denmark, and photographers were active in the larger Danish cities, although photography had not yet become established in the Danish colonies. Helgi studied law and medicine at the University of Copenhagen. These studies did not apparently fulfIl Helgi's wishes, as he studied art at the same time at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen in 1942–44,2 Following this, at the end of his studies in Copenhagen, he learned to take daguerreotypes, probably from a Genrman photographer and portrait painter, Gustaf Adolph Schätzig, who worked in Copenhagen.3 This choice of study indicates the link that existed between photography and art in the early days of photography. Helgi returned home to Iceland in 1846 without graduating, and settled on his father's farm in western Iceland. In 1850 he took over the farm, and he subsequently took holy orders. Sources on Helgi's photography are meagre, so little can be said of how much photography he did. His photographic collection was sent to his son in Canada after his death.4