Nina Saemundsson – Five Exceptional Sculptures

Saemundsson’s granite bust of actress Hedy Lamarr is not only dramatic, but of exceptional beauty. The starlet posed for Nina during her filming of Lady of the Tropics, and the sculpture is among many likenesses of Hollywood celebrities Saemundsson created during her years in Los Angeles. The bust was chosen for exhibition at the New York World’s Fair in 1939, the only statue of a Broadway or Hollywood notable to be accepted. The piece was later exhibited in Saemundsson’s 1941 solo show at the Grace Nicholson Galleries in Pasadena and at the Municipal Art Center in Long Beach in 1952. Besides being admired by critic Arthur Millier in the Los Angeles Times, the sculpture is also mentioned in Stephen Michael Shearer’s book Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr (New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2010).

Mermaid is an almost life-sized magnificent bronze sculpture that has become the hallmark of Saemundsson’s artistic career. It is both regal and a stunning depiction of this legendary creature. Another example of Saemundsson’s bronze Hafmeyjan (Mermaid) sculpture was located in Reykjavík’s Tjörnin lake, on a pedestal submerged in the water. The sculpture was blown up by vandals in 1960, but it was subsequently replaced with a copy; and today it is the most prominent work in Hljómskálagarður park at the southwest corner of the lake, an area that the Reykjavík city council dedicated to the work of female sculptors in 2014. Reminiscent of Edvard Eriksen’s famous The Little Mermaid (1913) in Copenhagen, Saemundsson’s sculpture alludes to both Iceland folklore and the Hans Christian Andersen story.

The next sculpture is Prometheus, an affecting and handsome head in black granite, and also the subject of Saemundsson’s nine-foot concrete statue Prometheus Bringing Fire to the Earth, created under the aegis of the Federal Public Works of Art Project, and dedicated in what is now Los Angeles’s MacArthur Park. In Greek mythology, the gods gave Prometheus the task of creating man; and Athena breathed life into the clay figure Prometheus made. Prometheus also decided to make man stand upright, and to give him fire. Zeus subsequently took fire away from man, but Prometheus defied him by lighting a torch from the sun and bringing fire back to humankind.

The title of Saemundsson’s life-sized swan with wings spread, standing on a soldier’s helmet, Swan of Tuonela (Tuonelan joutsen), is from an 1895 tone poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, based on the Kalevala epic of Finnish mythology. Said to be the artist’s favorite of her sculptures, it was included in Saemundsson’s ca.1939-1940 solo show at Gump’s Galleries in Los Angeles’s Ambassador Hotel. The exhibition’s opening was a gala event, and among the attendees were many of Saemundsson’s celebrated friends, including Cole Porter. The sculpture was also illustrated in Western Woman magazine, carrying the caption: “The legendary swan of the ancient Finnish saga, ‘Kalevala,’ is shown voicing a cry of sorrow for a warrior whose dented helmet bears witness to his death in battle.”

These sculptures are not to be missed!