Elsa Beskow
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Fantasy illustration for children's book - "Princess Signelill and her brother” from “Sagobok av Elsa Beskow”
Ink on paper, High-end archival matted.
Unsigned
Provenance: The Artist's Family
Drawing in ink, as well as a pencil sketch on the verso, included.
Done around 1915 as illustrations for the fairy tale
Matt size 12 x 12
From: Wikipedia:
Elsa Beskow (née Maartman; 11 February 1874 – 30 June 1953) was a
famous Swedish author and illustrator of children's books. Among her
better known books are Tale of the Little Little Old Woman and Aunt
Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender.
Background
Born in Stockholm
her parents were businessman Bernt Maartman (1841–1889), whose family
came from Bergen, Norway, and teacher Augusta Fahlstedt (1850–1915).
Beskow studied Art Education at Konstfack, University College of Arts,
Crafts and Design, then called Tekniska skolan, or the Technical school,
in Stockholm.
She married former minister and social worker, doctor of theology
Natanael Beskow in 1897. Elsa Beskow met her future husband at
Djursholms samskola while serving as a teacher where he served as head
master. From 1900 they lived in Villa Ekeliden in Djursholm which had
initially been built for the author Viktor Rydberg. They had six sons,
including the artist Bo Beskow (1906–1989) and geologist Gunnar Beskow
(1901–1991).
In 1894 Beskow started to contribute to the children's magazine
Jultomten. She ultimately began publishing her own books, doing both
illustration and text. Overall, she would publish some forty books with
her own text and images.
Beskow frequently combined reality with elements from the fairy tale
world. Children meet elves or goblins, and farm animals talk with
people. Central themes were the relationships between children and
adults and children's independent initiative. Her work "depicted a happy
home atmosphere in the Swedish countryside of the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries."
Beskow became one of the most well known of all Swedish children's
book artists. Many of her books became classics and are continually
reprinted. Beskow also illustrated ABC books and songbooks for Swedish
schools. Her book pages are often framed by decorative framework of the
Art Nouveau style.
Beskow received "international recognition for simple, cheerful stories and outstanding illustrations." br Poem br Poem Illustrated by Elsa Beskow about trees in winter (early 1900s, Nationalmuseum Stockholm.)