Biography | Photo Album | Timeline
Louisa Matthíasdóttir
[1917-2000]
Louisa Matthíasdóttir was born in 1917 in Reykjavik, Iceland. As a young woman Matthíasdóttir studied art in Copenhagen and spent a year studying with Marcel Gromaire in Paris. In 1942 she moved to New York to continue her studies under the tutelage of Hans Hoffman. While in the United States she met and married fellow painter Leland Bell. Together they had one daughter, Temma Bell, also a painter. Matthíasdóttir’s first solo exhibition at the Jane Street Gallery in 1948 established her as an artist in New York’s art scene. Matthíasdóttir began to gain more notoriety in the 1960’s as an important representational painter. She died in the February of 2000 at the age of 83.
Timeline
1917 – Born Feb 20, as youngest of three to Dr. Matthías Einarsson and Ellen Johannesen Einarsson
1925 – Family moves to Höfða with views of Akjarfell, Skarðsheiði and Esjan
1933 – Is given drawing lessons by painter Tryggvi Magnússon
1934-36 – Attends Kunsthåndværkerskolen (School of Arts and Crafts) in Denmark
– Visits museums in Copenhagen
1937 – Returns to Iceland
1938 – Travels to Paris with her parents during summer
– Remains in Paris to study at Maison Watteau school with Marcel Gromaire
1939-42 – Meets Nina Tryggvadottir at Louvre, Paris
– Returns to Reykjavik where her father rents her a studio
– Frequents Unahús
– Arrives in fall of 1942 by convoy to New York City during WWII
1943 – Starts studying at Arts Student’s League but leaves to attend the Hoffman school
– Meets fellow artist Leland Bell at Nell Blaine’s studio in New York
– Travels across country to San Francisco with Nina Tryggvadottir and they work at YWCA as waitresses
– Lee ships out to San Francisco and travels with Nina and Louisa back to New York
1944 – Marries Leland Bell in NYC
1945 – Daughter Temma is born
1946 – Travels to Iceland with husband and daughter to visit her family
1947 – Returns to New York and moves to East Bronx
1948 – Has first solo show at Jane Street Gallery
– Father Matthías Einarsson dies
1950-51 – Travels to Iceland, Denmark, and arrives in Paris
– Spends the year in Paris living and painting with family
1952 – Travels through Europe with family visiting museums
– Goes back to Iceland
– Returns to the States
1952-53 – Moves back to NY to Perry street apartment
– Moves to NYU Fraternity house on 10th Street where she and her husband were house mother and father
– Daughter Temma gets calico cat, Kisa who appears in many paintings
1954 – Father in-law, Louis H. Bell buys townhouse for his son’s and daughter’s families for them to live and paint in
1956 – Work appears in Poindexter Gallery group exhibit
1958 – Has solo exhibit at Tanager Gallery
1959 – Spends summer in Iceland
1960s – Has solo exhibit at University of Connecticut
– Illustrates her cousin, Matthías Johannessen’s book of poetry entitled “Hólmgönguljkjóða”
1962-63 – Spends year in Paris living and painting with her family
1963 – Spends summer in Iceland
– Work appears in Knoedler Gallery, group exhibit.
– Temma graduates high school – and moves away to college
1963-65 – Lives and paints over the next two years at various schools where husband Lee teaches.
– Fall ’63: Kansas City art Institute in Kansas City, Missouri
– Spring ’64: University of Iowa in Iowa City
– Summer ’64: at Yale summer school in Norfolk, Connecticut
– Fall of ’64: Visits Iceland; Mother Ellen Johannesen Einarsson dies
– Fall ’64 spring ’65: University of Indiana
– Begins to paint Icelandic landscapes and family scenes from her childhood in Iceland
1964 – Has first of regular solo exhibitions at the Robert Schoelkopf Gallery.
(also ’64,’66,’68,’69,’72,’74,’76,’78,’80,’83,’84,’86,’87,’89,’91)
1966(-72) – Participates in multiple two person shows with husband Leland Bell,
’66 Kansas City Art Institute, Missouri
’66 Procter Art Gallery, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
’67 Austin Art Center, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut
’72 Swain School of Art, New Bedford, Massachusetts
1968 – Daughter Temma graduates college
– Daughter Temma adopts gray cat, Kisa, and husband Leland Bell adopts Mischka a Hungarian sheepdog dog who both appear in paintings of the time
1970 – Has solo show at Albrecht Art Museum, Saint Joseph, Missouri
– Has solo show Framehouse Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
1972 – Has solo show at Litchfield Art Center, Litchfield, Conneticut
– Has solo show at Windham College, Putney, Vermont
1973 – Participates in show with husband and Daughter: A Family of Painters, Canton Art Institute, Canton, OH
1974 – Begins to spend summers regularly in Reykjavik, Iceland
– Shows first time in Iceland since she moved to New York, with the Icelandic Association of Artists (FIM) at Kjarvalstaðir, Reykjavik
1976 – Leland teaches at Skowhegan for the summer
– Lives and paints in Maine for summer
1977 – Leland teaches in Paris at Parsons Summer Painting Program
– Lives and paints in Paris for summer
1978 – First grandchild is born
– Visits Iceland, takes trip to Olafsvik
1979 – Leland teaches in Paris at Parsons Summer Painting Program
– Lives and paints in Paris for summer
1980 – Visits London
1981 – visits Iceland
1987 – Has first solo show at Galleri Borg, Reykjavik, Iceland
1988 – Recieves Icelandic Medal of Honor, Falkorðan (The Order of the Falcon)
1990 – Husband Leland Bell dies
1993 – First solo show at Kjarvalstaðir
1994 – Solo show at Donald Morris gallery, Reynolds Gallery, Salander O’Reilly
– First solo show at
1996 – Louisa Matthiasdottir :paintings 1930’s- 1990’s travels to Florida, PA, NY and NJ
– Receives the American Scandinavian Cultural Award on 11th of September
1998 – Becomes a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
2000 – Dies February of 2000 at the age of 83