Kjell Aukrust (19 March 1920 – 24 December 2002) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

author, poet, artist and humorist. Aukrust is principally known for his Flåklypa stories and Flåklypa drawings.

Personal life

Aukrust was born in

Alvdal Alvdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Alvdal. Other villages include Barkald, Plassmoen, and Strømmen ...

Hedmark Hedmark () was a county in Norway before 1 January 2020, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmark and Oppland counties were merged i ...

, Norway as a son of

Lars Olsen Aukrust Lars Olsen Aukrust (2 October 1886 – 10 January 1965) was a Norwegian farmer and politician for the Agrarian Party. He was born at Aukrust in Lom as a son of farmers Olav Olsen Aukrust (1851–1931) and Marit Paalsdatter Andvord (1864–1936 ...

(1886–1965) and Louise Walmsnæss (1887–1973). His father was rector at Storsteigen Agricultural School in Alvdal. He was a nephew of poet

Olav Aukrust Olav Aukrust (21 January 1883 – 3 November 1929) was a Norwegian poet and teacher. He popularized the use of Nynorsk as a literary language and is most commonly associated with his poem ''Himmelvarden'' (1916). Biography Aukrust was born in ...

, brother of

Odd Aukrust Odd Aukrust (15 December 1915 – 22 June 2008) was a Norwegian economist. He was born in Tynset as a son of Lars Olsen Aukrust (1886–1965) and Louise Walmsnæss (1887–1973). He was a nephew of Olav Aukrust, brother of Kjell Aukrust, and fir ...

, a noted economist who was responsible for research at

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every yea ...

. He was married to Kari Holter in 1947. He trained at the

Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry The National College of Art and Design ( no, Statens håndverks- og kunstindustriskole) was established in 1818. In 1996 the National College of Art and Design became part of Oslo National Academy of the Arts The Oslo National Academy of the A ...

1938–42. In 1939, one of his drawings was accepted at the Autumn Exhibition in Oslo. His memoirs of his childhood in Alvdal appeared in the series of three books: ''Simen'', ''Bonden'' and ''Bror Min'' published in 1958, 1964 and 1960.

Career

He is most famous for his creation of the fictional Norwegian village of Flåklypa populated with a cast of idiosyncratic characters. He created the Flåklypa society while being an illustrator and columnist for the magazine ''Mannskapsavisa'', with characters such as Reodor Felgen, Solan Gundersen, Ludvig and Emanuel Desperados. His column, which was modelled as a collection of satirical newspaper articles, was eventually renamed ''Flåklypa Tidende''. This setting was the basis of the 1975

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

film "

Flåklypa Grand Prix ''The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix'' ( no, Flåklypa Grand Prix) is a 1975 Norwegian stop-motion-animated feature film directed by Ivo Caprino. It is based on characters from a series of books by Norwegian cartoonist and author Kjell Aukrust. It is t ...

", directed by

Ivo Caprino Ivo Caprino (17 February 1920 – 8 February 2001) was a Norwegian film director and writer, best known for his puppet films. His most noted film, '' Flåklypa Grand Prix'' ("Pinchcliffe Grand Prix"), was made in 1975. Early life Caprino ...

. The film was the first full-length animated feature in Norway, became an international success and has been translated into more than seventy languages. In Britain it is known as "Pinchcliffe Grand Prix". The protagonist Reodor Felgen (English version: Theodore Rimspoke) has become synonymous in Norway with

Rube Goldberg Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), known best as Rube Goldberg, was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadge ...

type contraptions. Some of the characters who populated the village of Pinchcliffe were also the basis for the first full-length hand drawn animated feature in Norway, "Solan, Ludvig og Gurin med reverompa". Released in 1998, this movie takes place in

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 ...

and

. In Britain it is known as ''

Gurin with the Foxtail ''Gurin with the Foxtail'' (Norwegian: ''Solan, Ludvig og Gurin med reverompa'') is a Norwegian animated adventure comedy and family film from 1998, directed by John M. Jacobsen and Nille Tystad. It is loosely based on Kjell Aukrust's book ''Gu ...

''.

Huset Aukrust

In 1996, Aukrustsenteret (now Huset Aukrust) was opened in Alvdal. The center was designed by architect

Sverre Fehn Sverre Fehn (14 August 1924 – 23 February 2009) was a Norwegian architect. Life Fehn was born at Kongsberg in Buskerud, Norway. He was the son of John Tryggve Fehn (1894–1981) and Sigrid Johnsen (1895–1985). He received his architectu ...

. In addition to Aukrust's drawings, Huset Aukrust contains many of Kjell Aukrust's imaginative technical devices, such as a model of Il Tempo Gigante, the car featured in the film ''Flåklypa Grand Prix''.

References

External links

*
Huset Aukrust website
1920 births 2002 deaths People from Alvdal 20th-century Norwegian painters Norwegian male painters 20th-century Norwegian male writers Norwegian humorists Norwegian columnists Norwegian illustrators 20th-century Norwegian male artists {{Norway-painter-stub