Born: 1944 Reykjavik, Iceland
Died: 2019 Reykjavik, Iceland
Year of Migration to the UK: 1960
Other name/s: Karolina Larusdottir RWS RE
Biography
Artist Karólína Lárusdóttir was born on 12 March 1944 in Reykjavik, Iceland, to Daisy Josefson and businessman, Larus Ludvigsson. She was educated at Menntaskólinn school in her hometown. Lárusdóttir spent her childhood at Reykjavik’s Hotel Borg, opened in 1930 by her grandfather, Johannes Josefsson, as the first premier luxury accommodation in Iceland’s capital. Josefsson was an Icelandic champion wrestler who also worked with Barnum and Bailey’s circus and collaborated with illusionist Harry Houdini. Lárusdóttir's interest in art was first sparked during a visit to the UK at the age of fifteen, when her host family arranged a visit to the Royal Academy Schools in London. In the 1960s, Lárusdóttir moved to England to pursue higher education in the arts, initially spending a year at Sir John Cass College in East London before continuing at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art in 1967. Despite facing reservations from her parents, regarding her chosen path as an artist, she was determined to pursue her passion, with her maternal grandmother proving her most steadfast champion, providing financial support for accommodation, living expenses, and art supplies during her studies abroad. In 1967, she married businessman Clive Percival, whom she met in London. Lárusdóttir initially planned to further her education in the USA, but pregnancy changed that and the couple eventually had two children, Stephen and Samantha. A decade later, Lárusdóttir resumed her artistic training, enrolling in evening printmaking courses at Barking School of Art in Essex. She also began studying lithography with Jane Stobart, forming a lasting friendship, and took up etching, mentored by artist and printmaker Harry Eccleston. Eccleston encouraged her to explore her Icelandic roots as a central theme in her work. Her marriage to Percival ended in divorce in 1979. In 1983, she married psychologist Fred Roberts.
Lárusdóttir's work explores memories of her Reykjavik childhood, intertwined with mystical Icelandic culture, merging everyday banality with a surreal sense of the extraordinary. The human form regularly appears in her paintings, and often representing people she recalled from her grandfather’s hotel, all lending themselves to narrative interpretations as the figures engage in complex dynamics. Lárusdóttir’s oeuvre primarily comprises paintings and prints, characterised by an easily recognisable personal style. Her work often features dark, sombre – at times even slightly menacing – figures with strong black outlines, frequently positioned against a simple background. This contributes to a sense of isolation and psychological depth. Lárusdóttir cultivates an atmosphere reminiscent of the psychological intensity and existential anxieties found in the literary works of Ibsen, Beckett, and Kafka. She favours graphic elements with strong contrasts and a raw aesthetic that prioritises emotional state over accurate representation of reality. Compositions are direct, prioritising expressive impact over intricate detail. Colour is used selectively, sometimes naturalistically, sometimes symbolically. While figures are often grounded in reality, a tendency towards distortion and exaggeration hints at an affinity with expressionist, or even Outsider Art traditions. Her confident, gestural mark-making suggests quick brushstrokes and an emphasis on the process of creation.
From the early 1980s onwards, Lárusdóttir’s work was exhibited widely, both within the UK and internationally. In 1984 she held a solo show at the Drian Gallery in London, run by Polish émigré, Halima Nałęcz. Her art featured in many Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions between 1978 and 2012. Lárusdóttir was a member of a number of professional institutions, including the New English Art Club (NEAC) and was elected to the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in 1986. In 1989 she was awarded the Dicks and Greenbury prize. The following year, 1990, proved to be particularly successful, with Lárusdóttir receiving a special award at the Premio Biella Internazionale per L’Incisione in Italy and winning the 4th Triennale Mondiale D'Estampes Petit Format in France. In 1996, she became a member of the Royal Watercolour Society. She was featured in The Renewal of Icelandic Painting exhibition at Listasavn Foröya, Þórshöfn, Iceland, in 2006. In 2008, she was included in The ING Discerning Eye exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London. The Icelandic Printmaker’s Association, Íslensk Grafik, named her Graphic Artist of the Year in 2005, acknowledging her significant impact on the Icelandic art scene. Her achievements were further acknowledged in 2012, when she received the Aberystwyth University School of Art Collection Prize.
Following the death of her second husband in 2002, Lárusdóttir returned to her native Iceland in 2011, and in 2013, she suffered a stroke. Karólína Lárusdóttir died in Reykjavik, Iceland on 7 February in 2019. In the UK public domain, her work is held in the collection of Aberystwyth University, the Beecroft Art Gallery, and the Royal Watercolour Society, among others.
Related books
- Castle Gallery, Karólína Lárusdóttir: the good gathering, exh. cat. (Inverness: Castle Gallery, 2019)
- Jill Leman, Watercolour secrets (London: Bloomsbury, 2014)
- Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson, Karólína Lárusdóttir (Reykjavík: JPV útgáfa, 2013)
- Drian Galleries, Exhibition of paintings by Karolina Larusdottir, exh. cat. (London: Drian Galleries, 1984)
- Playhouse Gallery, A fresh look at Nature, exh. cat. (Harlow: Playhouse Gallery, 1979)
Public collections
Related organisations
- Barking School of Art, Essex (student)
- New English Art Club (member)
- Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (member)
- Royal Watercolour Society (member)
- Ruskin School of Art, Oxford (student)
- Sir John Cass College (student)
Related web links
- BnF
- Cambridge Contemporary Art
- Castle Gallery Inverness
- Esther Lafferty, ‘Karólína Lárusdóttir and the Wonders of the Everyday’, OX Magazine
- Hayletts Gallery
- Nelson Atkins Museum of Art
- Red Rag Gallery
- 'Remembering Karolina Larusdottir', New English Art Club
- Samantha Percival, ‘Karólína Lárusdóttir obituary’, The Guardian, 14 April 2019
- Sarah Wiseman Galler
Selected exhibitions
- Summer Exhibition (group show), Royal Academy, London (1978, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2012)
- Karólína Lárusdóttir: Prints (solo exhibition), Sarah Wiseman Gallery, Oxford (2019)
- Karólína Lárusdóttir: Prints (solo exhibition), Castle Gallery, Inverness (2019)
- Karólína Lárusdóttir (solo exhibition), Cambridge Contemporary Art (1993, 1994, 2002, 2005, 2009)
- The ING Discerning Eye (group show), Mall Galleries, London (2008)
- The Renewal of Icelandic Painting (group show), Listasavn Foröya, Þórshöfn (2006)
- Karólína Lárusdóttir (solo exhibition), Gallery 10, London (1984, 1987, 1992)
- Karólína Lárusdóttir (solo exhibition), The Gallery Nyhofn, Reykjavik (1990)
- Karólína Lárusdóttir (solo exhibition), Chenil Gallery, London, 1983
- Karólína Lárusdóttir: Prints (solo exhibition), Casa Nova/Reykjavik Junior College, Reykjavik (1967)
