Muggur

Guðmundur Pétursson Thorsteinsson, better known as Muggur (5 September 1891, Bíldudalur – 27 July 1924, Søllerød) was an Icelandic painter, graphic artist, author and film actor. His younger brothers, Samúel, Gunnar and Friðþjófur were all professional football players.

Muggur (1922/23)

Biography

His father, Pétur, was one of the richest men in Iceland; founder of the Milljónarfélagið fishing company. When he was twelve, the family moved to Copenhagen, but they travelled continuously between there and Iceland.[1]

He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1911 to 1915, but also took study trips to Germany and Italy.[1] In 1915, he made a visit to the United States, where his works had recently been exhibited to good reviews in the Evening Sun.[2]

In addition to his paintings, he wrote and illustrated a children's book, The Story of Dimmalimm, about a young girl and an enchanted swan. It was written in 1921 for a niece, while he was on board a cargo ship sailing from Italy to Iceland, and was published in 1942.[1] Later, Jóhannes úr Kötlum turned it into a verse play and it was also staged as a ballet, with music by Atli Heimir Sveinsson. He created numerous drawings inspired by the Eddas as well and created Iceland's first unique deck of playing cards.

He was also a talented amateur actor and had a major role in one of Iceland's first films, Sons of the Soil (Saga Borgarættarinnar), based on a novel by Gunnar Gunnarsson.

A brief marriage that ended in divorce led him to drink heavily. In 1923, already in deteriorating health, he was kicked in the back by a horse.[2] After a lengthy stay at a spa in France, he returned to the family estate in Denmark and died of a chest ailment (possibly tuberculosis), aged only thirty-two.[1] Most of his works are in the National Gallery of Iceland.

Selected works
  • The Kiss, 1918
  • Carrying Coal, 1919
  • Seventh Day in Paradise, 1920
  • Snæfellsjökull, 1922
gollark: I made this cool holographic bouncy ball.
gollark: We have some countermeasures, but it's been observed using polymorphic bytecode generation, [DATA EXPUNGED] in Lua's string libraries, and in one case █████████ ██████ ██████ █████████ █████████, █████ █████ ██ ████ ████.
gollark: It is not installed randomly, but can ████████████ █████ ████████ ███████ using [REDACTED] previously unknown exploits.
gollark: No. It is very dangerous and MUST NOT be interacted with.
gollark: ÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆ

References
  1. Brief biography with photographs, by Elfar Logi Hannesson @ Arnfirðingur.
  2. "Movie-Star, Painter, Man Of The World: The Story Of Muggur" @ The Reykjavík Grapevine.

Further reading
  • Björn Theodór Björnsson, Guðmundur Thorsteinsson, Muggur. Ævi hans og list (Life and Art), Helafell, 1960

Media related to Muggur at Wikimedia Commons

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