Countless tourists pass through the town of Hvolsvöllur on their way to popular destinations in South Iceland. Many stop for a bite at the petrol station but there are better places here to try, such as Eldstó :) The park where the cache is sometimes offers interesting things such as a photo exhibition and a beautiful sculpture.
At this site you can also see a winged goddess of fortune. The artwork is a cast of the sculpture Spirit of Achievement, which has stood at the entrance of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York for over 90 years. The aim of the sculpture is to serve as an inspiration for anyone who needs to sharpen their spirit of achievement in their daily life
In 1926, Nína was invited to exhibit her work in New York. She took on many official assignments in the United States and became an admired and sophisticated portrait artist. She gained a great deal of prestige and fame when she won a competition of 400 artists for a symbolic sculpture for the new Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. Her sculpture, Spirit of Achievement, was unveiled above the hotel entrance in October 1931. This is one of the greatest successes in the history of Icelandic art. The replica here in Hvolsvöllur, gazes across the ocean where the original stands, 2659 miles to the southwest.
Among other works of Nína in the US are Prometheus and a memorial to Leif Erikson, both in Los Angeles, and a marble portrait of the Hollywood movie star and innovator, Hedy Lamarr, which was selected for the World Fair in New York in 1939. That same year, Nína was awarded the Knight‘s Cross of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon for her art, and in 1958 the Grand Knight‘s Cross.
After 30 years in the US, Nína moved back to Iceland in 1955. She was not well received in Iceland by many people. The reasons were that she had lived for so long in America where she had enjoyed success (many resented her for that), she was a woman who was a sculptor (unique at that time), and she was also lesbian.
She died in Reykjavík ten years later, unmarried and without children. By then she had bequeathed all her work to the National Gallery of Iceland. This young girl from a remote rural area in Iceland had become the first Icelandic woman to turn sculpture into her life’s work as an artist and to receive international recognition for her body of work.