Alf Gabriel Næsheim (18 February 1926, Stavanger - 25 December 2014, Bærum) was a Norwegian painter and illustrator, mostly known for his architectural drawings from the city of

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, but also for being the first Norwegian artist that illustrated Disney comic book stories featuring

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

. Næsheim was born and grew up in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

. He moved to Oslo in 1945, where he was employed as an illustrator for the

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 million ...

newspaper until retiring in 1995. He also illustrated the sports section of the

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newsp ...

newspaper between 1968 and 1981, as well as having shorter contracts with Stavanger Aftenblad and

Jærbladet ''Jærbladet'' is a Norwegian local newspaper published in Bryne, at Jæren in county Rogaland. It covers the three municipalities: Time, Hå and Klepp. It is issued three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It started in 1949. The newspape ...

. He was educated at Statens håndverks- og kunstindustriskole in Oslo 1945–1950, Académie de la Grande Chaumière in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

1947 and

Goldsmiths College of Art Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

1951. His debut as a

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture ...

artist was in 1948, and he held his first separate exhibition in 1985 at Hå old priestyard in 1985. His father was the painter Sverre Næsheim (1900–1976). Alf Gabriel was the brother of the illustrator Egil Torin Næsheim (born 1937) and the father of the artist Yngve Næsheim (born 1960).

Donald Duck-incident

In the 1960s, he worked for an advertising agency, having contracted the ''Hjemmet'' weekly publishing company, whose editor Ernst Gervin asked Næsheim to write stories for the weekly comic ''Donald Duck & Co'' (Norwegian). Næsheim then created the "Vending machine mystery" (in Norwegian, "Automatmysteriet", Næsheims manuscript, November 1968) and "Manko i Regnskapet" (Gervins manuscript, January 1969). The copyrights were sold to the Danish Gutenberghus, and the stories were published in other Nordic countries as well as in Germany. Næsheim turned down the offer from Gutenberghus to become a regular writer, turning out around 20 stories a year.

Awards

*2. prize in the VII. Int. Exhibition of Sports Illustrations 1983 *Oslo Artist Award (Oslo Bys kunstnerpris) 1992 for his 10-volume series ''Kristiania i Oslo'' __NOTOC__

Publications

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naesheim, Alf 1926 births 2014 deaths Norwegian comics writers Norwegian illustrators Norwegian male painters Norwegian editorial cartoonists Disney comics writers Norwegian non-fiction writers Artists from Stavanger Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière