Olaf Leonhard Gulbransson (26 May 1873 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 ...

18 September 1958 in

Tegernsee Tegernsee is a town in the Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the shore of Lake Tegernsee, which is 747 m (2,451 ft) above sea level. A spa town, it is surrounded by an alpine landscape of Upper Bavaria, and has an e ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

) 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 ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

. He is probably best known for his

caricatures A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...

and

illustrations An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video ...

Biography

From 1885-93, 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 ...

in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. From 1890, he worked for many Norwegian

magazines A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...

, including ''

Tyrihans ''Tyrihans'' was a Norwegian satirical magazine. It existed between 1892 and 1904, and was published out of Oslo, Kristiania. Among its staff were Axel Maurer (editor), Olaf Gulbransson, Andreas Bloch and Ragnvald Blix. References

1892 esta ...

'', '' Pluk'', '' Paletten'', '' Fluesoppen'', ''Sfinx'' and '' Trangviksposten ''(1899–1901). In 1900 he studied at the Académie Colarossi in Paris. In 1902 he moved to Germany to work for the satirical magazine ''

Simplicissimus :''Simplicissimus is also a name for the 1668 novel Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus, Simplicius Simplicissimus and its protagonist.'' ''Simplicissimus'' () was a satire, satirical German language, German weekly magazine, headquartered in Munich ...

''in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

after editor

Albert Langen Albert Langen (8 July 1869 – 30 April 1909) was a German publisher and founder of the satirical publication '' Simplicissimus''. Early years Langen was, after Martha and Martin, the third of four children born to Antwerp industrialist Friedrich ...

had been in contact with author

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...

looking for Norwegian talent. With publicity increasing Gulbransson's fame, and even though he lived in Germany between 1923 and 1927, he drew for ''

Tidens tegn ''Tidens Tegn'' (Norwegian: ''Sign of the Times'') is a former Norwegian newspaper, issued in Oslo from 1910 to 1941. Editors The founder and first editor-in-chief of ''Tidens Tegn'' was Ola Thommessen, who edited the newspaper until 1917. Tho ...

'' in Oslo. In 1929 he became professor at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Munich The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (german: Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, ...

. In 1933 the art academy in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

arranged a special exhibition to celebrate Gulbransson's 60th birthday, which was shut down by the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

after only two days. ''

'' editors

Franz Schoenberner Franz Schoenberner (December 18, 1892April 11, 1970) was a German editor and writer. Life and works Franz Schoenberner grew up as the eleventh child of a pastor in Berlin. From 1911 to 1914, he studied literature and art history in Berlin and Muni ...

and

Thomas Theodor Heine Thomas Theodor Heine (28 February 1867 – 26 January 1948) was a German painter, illustrator and cartoonist. Born in Leipzig, Heine established himself as a gifted caricaturist at an early age, which led to him studying art at the Kunstakademie D ...

have claimed that Gulbransson actively cooperated with the Nazis from 1933 on, and this co-operation was sharply criticized by the writer

Klaus Mann Klaus Heinrich Thomas Mann (18 November 1906 – 21 May 1949) was a German writer and dissident. He was the son of Thomas Mann, a nephew of Heinrich Mann and brother of Erika Mann, with whom he maintained a lifelong close relationship, and Golo ...

.Klaus Mann: Der Simplicissimus. In: Das Neue Tagebuch, V. Jahrgang 1937, p. 214 During World War II, after his own home country was occupied by the Germans, he produced caricatures against the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, in particular against

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

. In 1941 he was made an honorary member of the Society of Berlin Artists and in 1942 of the

Academy of Fine Arts Vienna The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien) is a public art school in Vienna, Austria. History The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private academy modelled on the Accademia di Sa ...

. On the occasion of his 70th birthday in 1943 he was awarded the Goethe Medal for Art and Science and was made Emeritus Professor of the

. Gulbransson illustrated many books, including the children's books ''Det var engang'' (''Once upon a time''), which was published simultaneously in Norway and Germany in 1934, and ''Und so weiter'' (''And so on'') which was published in Germany in 1954. Gulbransson was married three times. His 1906 marriage to Grete Jehly produced a son,

Olaf Andreas Gulbransson Olaf Andreas Gulbransson (23 January 1916, in Munich – 18 July 1961) was a German architect of Norwegian descent, particularly active in church architecture. He was the son of the Norwegian-born artist and painter Olaf Gulbransson (1873–1958) ...

, who became a noted church architect. His third marriage was with

's niece, Dagny Bjørnson. Gulbransson also gave his name to the Olaf Gulbransson Prize, won by cartoonists such as

Volker Kriegel Volker Kriegel (24 December 1943 – 15 June 2003) was a German jazz guitarist and composer who also an author and drew cartoons. He was a founding member of the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble. Biography Kriegel was born in Darmstadt on 24 Decem ...

and

Michael Sowa Michael Sowa (born 1945) is a German artist known mainly for his paintings, which are variously whimsical, surreal, or stunning. His paintings often feature animals and are titled in English and German. His art is widely available as posters, notec ...

. In 2004 the artists

Lars Fiske Lars Fiske (born 21 July 1966) is a Norwegian comics writer and artist, and creator of picture books. He was born in Oslo and is married to illustrator and writer Anna Fiske. Fiske created the album ''Matje: debutanten'' in 1996, and the follow ...

and Steffen Kverneland published the book '' Olaf G.'', a retrospective comic book about Olaf Gulbransson.

References

External links

The Olaf Gulbransson Museum in TegernseeThe Official Olaf Gulbransson websiteOne of Gulbransson's well-known portraits of Ibsen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gulbransson, Olaf 19th-century Norwegian painters 19th-century German male artists 20th-century Norwegian painters Norwegian male painters Norwegian illustrators Norwegian caricaturists 1873 births 1958 deaths Academic staff of the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich Académie Colarossi alumni 19th-century Norwegian male artists 20th-century Norwegian male artists

Biography

References

Related reading

External links