Thursday, November 16, 2006
Illustration: John Bauer's Bland Tomtar Och Troll
This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for more jaw dropping images from classic illustrated books.
Like many of the artists we feature here on this blog, John Bauer is a name that not many people know. His career was relatively short, but his influence was far reaching.
Born in 1882 in Sweden, Bauer studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. In 1904, he illustrated his first book, Lappland, but in 1907 he began work on a series of Christmas annuals that would make him famous. Bland Tomtar Och Troll (Among Trolls and Elves) is a Swedish tradition, beginning in 1907 and continuing to this very day. I'm afraid I don't speak Swedish, so I can't speak for the folk tales Bauer is illustrating, but the illustrations are stunning.Bauer had a way with trolls... they are grotesque, yet appealing. The simple, yet elegant compositions conveyed the essence of the image clearly with a sense of humor that both children and adults could understand. His style influenced generations of artists from Gustaf Tenggren (who took over the Bland Tomtar Och Troll series after Bauer's death in a shipwreck in 1918), Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac and Kay Nielsen to Brian Froud and Jim Henson (The Dark Crystal). This particular edition of Bland Tomtar Och Troll is from 1915, but the images are timeless.
Very little information on Bauer exists outside of his native country of Sweden. There is a museum dedicated to his work in the city where he was born. If you have any information on this great artist, please let us know about it in the comments below.
See also.. Einar Norelius' Bland Tomtar Och Troll 1929, Einar Norelius' Bland Tomtar Och Troll (1934)
To see Bauer's influence on contemporary illustrators, see... Gustaf Tenggren's Grimm's Fairy Tales, Arthur Rackham's Grimm's Fairy Tales, and Kay Nielsen's East of the Sun and West of the Moon and Hansel & Gretel.
Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
10.20.08
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Labels: bland tomtar och troll, fantasy art, illustration, john bauer
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10 Comments:
my eyes just blew a gasket
"Bland Tomtar Och Troll (Among Faries and Elves)"
A better translation would be "Among Gnomes and Trolls".
Wow!!!! Nice work, Steve! These pictures are a real treasure!
I've visited the John Bauer museum in Sweden. They have a fantastic archive of his sketches and drawings, as well as his painted works. Inspiring stuff. I also toured the region where he lived and died. It was interesting to see that the forests he painted actually look that way there, with that strangely lumpen, moss-covered ground. And after visiting the port where his fatal ferry-ride began, I could understand why there were no survivors, despite the boat sinking so near the shore. At that time of year (November), it's freezing!
I live in this city (Jönköping. I'll try to scrape up some info.
These are wonderful, and very clearly inspiration (at least in part) for the look and feel Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal. Wonderful!
For being somewhat a J.B fanatic I was thrilled to see your page since you are showing a fare amount of paintings that I have never even seen! Do you know where these can possibly be found in prints sold as posters?
If Bauer interests you, you should check out Theodor Kittelsen, the best known norwegian troll illustrator
se
http://kittelsen.efenstor.net/
http://www.blaa.no/hoved.asp?kID=4&side=777&sprk=2&skat=1018
John Bauer magical drawnings and paintings are together with Carl Larsson my pernsoal best artist, an incredible influence on my own develop, thanks for post rhis wonderful pieces, an modest tribute for an great artist with a early and tragic fate, i wish to think...hes gone..but into the realm of Tomte och troll...Sverige sago land
Järnvarg
I love John Bauer drawnings is by far one of my favorite artists, his drawings drove me in a deep emotion level that I can´t explain, I never read the stories that he ilustrated but it seem that I known the soul of the caracters just by looking to his drawings. By any chance no one knows if I can find a version of "Bland Tomtar Och Troll " in english???
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