Memorable Manitobans: Gissur Eliasson (1913-1980)

Artist, educator.

Born in 1913, he received his early education at Ardal School. In 1939, he graduated from the Winnipeg School of Art having studied under L. L. Fitzgerald. He was a member of the School’s teaching staff when, in 1950, it became the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Manitoba. He started the School’s classes for children on Saturday mornings and was Director of the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Painting in the Park. He designed the Viking statue at Gimli. He was the senior painting instructor at the Neepawa Festival of Arts for six years, a member of the Manitoba Arts Council, Manitoba Society of Artists, Education Committee of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and First Lutheran Church. He retired from the University in 1978. On 12 June 1944, he married Elvera Eliasson (1915-1993) and they had four children. He died at Winnipeg on 8 June 1980 and was buried in the Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens.

Sources:

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 10 June 1980, page 57.

Obituary [Elvera Eliasson], Winnipeg Free Press, 11 April 1993, page 41.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 13 February 2020

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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