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Oskar Emil "O.A." Andersson (11 January 1877 – 28 November 1906) was a
/ref> He greatly influenced Swedish cartooning culture.
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 ...
cartoonist and one of Sweden's first true comic creators.''Oskar Andersson'' in Nationalencyklopedien (in Swedish)/ref> He greatly influenced Swedish cartooning culture.
Biography
Early life
Andersson began working in his teens in the Royal Mint. When he realised his passions lay with drawing, he enrolled in Technology school and passed with good qualifications. Design, however, did not interest him. His teacher, Kaleb Althin, encouraged him to take up caricaturing.Turn to cartooning
At the age of twenty, Andersson debuted with his cartoons in the ''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 ...
'' magazine, where he soon got employed. Inspired by the early comic artists from 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 territori ...
and England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in the late 19th century, Andersson created Sweden's first recurring comic strips: ''Bröderna Napoleon och Bartholomeus Lunds från Grönköping Resa Jorden Runt'' (about two brothers on a world tour), ''Mannen Som Gör Vad Som Faller Honom In'' (about a strange man who does whatever comes to his mind) and ''Urhunden'' (about a prehistoric dog and its owner), all around the turn of the century.
Andersson was apparently friends with Swedish sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
Carl Milles
Carl Milles (; 23 June 1875 – 19 September 1955) was a Swedish sculptor. He was married to artist Olga Milles (née Granner) and brother to Ruth Milles and half-brother to the architect Evert Milles. Carl Milles sculpted the Gustaf Vasa sta ...
.
Suicide
In 1906, Oskar, who apparently suffered from long depressions and obsessive-compulsive disorder, committed suicide by shooting himself. The reasons for this are not entirely known, but Andersson was also known for his social anxiety, as well as incidents during his work as a reportage cartoonist, as he was exposed to severe mistreatment of military horses, which as an animal lover worsened his depression. Andersson is buried at Ekerö church cemetery.Career
Andersson's best known strip, ''"Mannen som gör vad som faller honom in"'' (The Man Who Does Whatever Comes To His Mind) was one of the first recurring comic strips in Swedish history. It was a 20-episode serial chronicling the misadventures of an anarchistic man who does whatever he wants, no matter how amoral it may be.
Other strips
Other cartooning works by Oskar Andersson include Urhunden, a strip about a prehistoric man and his pet dinosaur, and countless politicalsatire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...
cartoons. Among his contemporaries, Andersson was primarily 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 ...
, which were published in Swedish newspapers ''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 ...
'' and ''Strix'', between 1897–1906.
References