Louisa Matthíasdóttir

Who was Louisa Matthíasdóttir?

Louisa Matthíasdóttir was an Icelandic-American painter.

Matthíasdóttir was born in Reykjavík. She showed artistic ability at an early age, and studied first in Denmark and then under Marcel Gromaire in Paris. Her early paintings, dating from the late 1930s, established her as a leading figure in the Icelandic avant-garde community. In these paintings, subjects are painted with a broad brush, emphasizing geometric form. These paintings already show much of the character of Matthíasdóttir's mature work, but are more subdued in color.

Her move to New York in 1942 was followed by a period of study under Hans Hofmann, along with other painters including Robert De Niro, Sr. and Jane Freilicher. In 1944 she married painter Leland Bell, and until Bell's death in 1991 they enjoyed a partnership of mutual support. Matthíasdóttir's first solo exhibition took place at Jane Street Gallery in New York in 1948, and while her work of the 1950s saw her introducing elements of expressionism, from the 1960s until the end of her life she developed and refined the idiom of forthright color, uncluttered composition and brisk execution for which she is best known.