Trausti Ólafsson (1891–1961)│From Breiðavík to Copenhagen

Reykjavík Museum of Photography

Born at Breiðavík in Iceland’s West Fjords in the summer of 1891, he was the second of five children of Sigríður Traustadóttir (1870–1951) and her husband Ólafur Ólafsson (1854–98). In his youth Trausti worked hard, both on the farm and at sea. But he was keen to learn, and studied privately with the local pastor, the Rev. Þorvaldur Jakobsson, proving himself unusually intelligent and studious.  He went on to school in Akureyri, and then to Reykjavík High School, graduating in 1915. That same year he sailed for Copenhagen to study at Den Polytekniske Læreanstalt, graduating in 1921 as a chemical engineer. On his return to Iceland Trausti was appointed director of the State Chemical Research Institute. In 1937 that agency was absorbed into the new University of Iceland Industries Department, which was concerned with the three main sectors of the economy: fisheries, agriculture and manufacturing. Trausti was director of this new Department until 1940, and headed its Manufacturing Division from 1937 to 1946. In addition he taught at the University’s Faculty of Medicine 1921–58 and at the Faculty of Engineering 1941–58. In 1945 he was awarded the title of professor by the President of Iceland. 

The exhibition "Frá Breiðavík til Kaupmannahafnar/From Breiðavík to Copenhagen" comprises about twenty photographs from a collection of around 200 plates by Trausti Ólafsson, which are preserved in the Reykjavík Museum of Photography. Most were taken between 1919 and 1928, in his home territory in the West Fjords, during his student years in Copenhagen, and in Klaksvík in the Faroe Islands, the home town of his wife, María S. Petersen (1898–1965).
While Trausti’s photographic archive is not large, it provides an interesting perspective on life in the Icelandic rural community where he grew up, and on the student experience in the Danish capital around 1920. His photographs vividly depict these very different aspects of his life, and the sharp contrasts that existed, and still do, between these two worlds. 


Trausti captures the atmosphere of his country home: young and old energetically haymaking with rakes in hand; cheery mowers wield their scythes; and rosy city lasses rest in the fresh hay, while a curly-tailed Icelandic sheepdog scampers about. We see the farm buildings of Breiðavík, children at play with a new-born calf, and images of  powerfully-built fishermen.

Trausti’s Copenhagen photos introduce us to a another world. While he takes photographs of the big city – crowds on Rådhuspladsen square, well-dressed bourgeois out for a walk – his main focus is on student life, including rare photos of his fellow-countrymen at their hall of residence – Regensen, known to Icelanders as Gamli Garður, home to Icelandic students from the 17th century until Iceland gained independence in 1918. Trausti shows us eager young people  in their best clothes, taking their first steps into a brave new cosmopolitan world. We see serious students poring over their books, indoors or out, while others lounge on the bench beneath the linden tree affectionately known as Frú Lind (Mrs. Linden), planted in the courtyard 135 years before. But life was more than just books and strolling the city streets; the students’ rooms also saw high jinks and beer-drinking parties. Lifelong bonds of friendship were forged there... and even lifelong marriages.

Trausti Ólafs­son (1891–1961)│­From Breiðavík to Copen­ha­gen

In his day Trausti Ólafsson was well known in Icelandic society for his work in chemical research, and he held various public offices in that field.

Trausti Ólafsson (1891–1961)│From Breiðavík to Copenhagen