Oscar Jacobsson (

Göteborg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...

, 1889 – Solberga, December 25, 1945) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

comic creator and

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

who started his career in 1918, when his first newspaper illustration was published. Jacobsson's first illustrations were published in Naggen. In 1920, he created the

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

'' Adamson'' for the publication ''

Söndags-Nisse ''Söndags-Nisse'' (Swedish: ''Sunday Nisse'') was a humor magazine published in Stockholm, Sweden. It was in circulation between 1863 and 1924. History and profile ''Söndags-Nisse'' was founded by Gustaf Wahlbom in 1862. The magazine contribu ...

''. Adamson himself was a (usually) silent little cigar-smoking man with a big hat and frequent misadventures. The strip soon became very popular and became published in hundreds of newspapers all over the world. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, it became known as "

Silent Sam The Confederate Monument, University of North Carolina, commonly known as ''Silent Sam'', is a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier by Canadian sculptor John A. Wilson, which once stood on McCorkle Place of the University of North Carolin ...

". Jacobsson also worked for other publications. His illustrations frequently appeared in magazines and papers like

Exlex ''Exlex'' is a former Norwegian weekly satirical magazine, published from 1919 to 1920. It was edited by illustrator Ragnvald Blix. Other contributors were illustrators Olaf Gulbransson, Anton Hansen, Adolf Hallman, Ossian Elgström and Robert ...

Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ''Da ...

and Lutfisken. Near the end of his stellar career, Jacobsson created another comic character: Abu Fakir. This was published in Vi.

Keeping Adamson Alive

'Adamson' outlived his creator; the Danish artist Viggo Ludvigsen continued the comic strip for nearly two decades after Oscar Jacobsson's death in 1945. And in the U.S. two artists kept Jacobson alive—Henry Thol from 1935 to 1940 and Jeff Hayes from 1941 to 1953.

The Adamson Award

In 1965, the Swedish Comic Academy founded the "

Adamson Awards Adamson Awards is a Swedish award awarded to notable cartoonists, named after the famous Swedish comic strip "Adamson" (Silent Sam). They have been presented by the Swedish Academy of Comic Art (SACA) since 1965. There have been years in that ti ...

" in Jacobsson's honor. This "

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

" is given to one Swedish and one international comic creator every year.

References

1889 births 1945 deaths Swedish comics artists Swedish cartoonists {{cartoonist-stub