British painters in Iceland
Interesting to note which of our group of artists worked in Iceland. One, Ravilious, is well-known for his Icelandic work and he died there in an accident in 1942. He had been there as an official War artist. His replacement was Thomas Hennell and there are gorgeous examples of his watercolours done in Iceland. By coincidence, he was another War artist killed on active service, although in his case it was to be in the post-War unsettled circumstances of the Dutch East Indies in 1945. Perhaps less well-known is that Leon Underwood painted there. I have a picture by him on my kitchen wall of an Icelandic scene. He was an exceptionally varied artist, working in many different places around the world (such as Mexico) and producing sculpture as well as pictures. Rather under-considered, there is a good book about him by Christopher Neve.Another example is Alan Sorrell. He went to Iceland in the 1930s and produced a fascinating group of pictures, some of which are illustrated in a recent book about him published by Sansom.