Janus Kamban

Who was Janus Kamban?

Janus Kamban was a Faroese sculptor and last living representative from the "first generation" of professional artists in the Faroe Islands.

Kamban is the first and most important sculptor in the Faroe Islands. In 1930 he went to Copenhagen to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts to study painting, but soon changed his direction and attended the School of Sculpture in the Art Academy from 1932 to 1935 and from 1938 to 1940, where he studied under Professor Einar Utzon-Frank. Study tours in the 1930s led him to Paris, Florence, Oslo and Stockholm.

In his Copenhagen studio he organized the first exhibition of Faroese Art in Denmark. In addition to his own works, it included works by Gudmund Hentze, Sámal Joensen-Mikines, Elin Borg Lützen, Ruth Smith and Ingolf Jacobsen.

During the Second World War he had to remain in German-occupied Denmark since the Faroe Islands were occupied by Britain. However, in August 1945, Kamban returned to the Faroe Islands on the first ship, the Aarhus. Once there, he immediately established himself as a sculptor.