Albert Engström (1869–1940) was a Swedish artist, author and member of the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...

from 1922. Albert Engström. ''sv.wikipedia.org''. Retrieved: 27 June 2013.

Career

Engström was born in Lönneberga,

Kalmar County Kalmar County () is a Counties of Sweden, county or ''län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Kronoberg County, Kronoberg, Jönköping County, Jönköping, Blekinge County, Blekinge and Östergötland County, Östergötland. To the ...

(

Småland Småland () is a historical Provinces of Sweden, province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name ''Småland'' literally means "small la ...

) but spent most of his childhood in Hult near Eksjö, where his father was the railroad stationmaster. He graduated from

Norrköping Norrköping ( , ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Lin ...

secondary school in 1888 and went to

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

the following year to read

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and

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, a pursuit which he abandoned after two years. In 1892 he enrolled at the Valand School of Fine Arts in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

to study under Carl Larsson. Between 1894 and 1896 Albert Engström was on the editorial staff for the satirical publication '' Söndags-Nisse''. In 1897 he founded the humor magazine ''Strix''. Among the themes of his many illustrations were those of tramps and drunkards, and indeed alcohol, or rather its adverse effects, featured largely in his humour. One such recurring fictional character was Kolingen. In a book of autobiographical sketches the author Evert Taube described Engström: "He had a peculiar face with eyes like a bird of Minerva beneath a lofty forehead and bangs . . . a tough but sensitively chiseled nose and faunlike mouth surrounded by a scraggly French goatee — in short, a face that so captivated Swedes that all were compelled to look over to where he sat. He moved as softly and quietly as a bear and had the lanky appearance of a sailor from

. One began thinking of shipwrecks and sleigh rides when he entered a room. But he brought to mind other things as well. He could smile just like Velázquez's god of wine and roar with laughter like a roustabout . . ." Engström coined the word "Grönköping" in 1895 as a caption for some of his drawings, thereby inventing the fictional Swedish town of the same name. In 2002 the CD ''Grönköping Tar Ton'' was issued in Sweden to commemorate one hundred years of '' Grönköpings Veckoblad'' (Grönköping's Weekly), a satirical monthly magazine that was founded in 1902. The album, depicting Grönköping in recordings made between 1908 and 1946, is available through

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

.''Grönköping Tar Ton'' (Stockholm: Ancha, 2002). Several of Albert Engström's stories have been translated into English and appeared in books and magazines published in England and the United States.''Sweden's Best Stories'', trans. by Charles Wharton Stork, (New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1928).''Modern Swedish Short Stories'', trans. by E. Sprigge and C. Napier, (London: Cape, 1934).''Twelve Tales by Albert Engström'', trans. by Harold Borland, (London: G.G. Harrap, 1949).''American-Scandinavian Review'', trans. by Edith T. Aney and Sven O. Karell, (New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1954–1955). Engström was a second cousin once removed to Swedish author

Astrid Lindgren Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren (; ; 14 November 1907 – 28 January 2002) was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays. She is best known for several children's book series, featuring Pippi Longstocking, Emil i Lönneberga, Emil of Lönneberga, ...

Translations of his works

Charles Wharton Stork *Charles XII, Hercules and Gustav Mattson E. Sprigge and C. Napier *The Grey Seal *Osarkrak *A Jest of Janson's *Swedish Panopticon Harold Borland *Politeness *The Journey to Stockholm of Mrs. Holm, the Dean's Wife *The Power of the Press *Whitsun *Söderbom *The Funeral Hat *When I was Czar *A Bookworm *A Ghost Story *An Uppsala Memory *Causerie *The Unkind Author Edith T. Aney and Sven O. Karell *Aidesimos of Aleppo *Moose *The Mystery of the Three Hundred Cans

References

External links

Swedish
Albert Engström
at the

National Library of Sweden The National Library of Sweden (, ''KB'', meaning "the Royal Library") is Sweden's national library. It collects and preserves all domestic printed and audio-visual materials in Swedish, as well as content with Swedish association published ab ...

.
Albert Engström
at

Open Library Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Hargrave Malamud, Open Library is a project of the Internet ...

.
Albert Engström
at

Project Runeberg Project Runeberg () is a digital cultural archive initiative that publishes free electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the Nordic countries. Patterned after Project Gutenberg, it was founded by Lars Aronsson and ...

.
Albert Engström
at the Stockholm Archive.
''Mitt Lif Och Lefverne''
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

. English
As Swedish writer sees usThe European Mark TwainUnhealthy galoshesShort Stories

Illustrations
Grönköping CD cover''Grönköping Veckoblad''Card game in GrönköpingHumorous stories 1905
Lyrics by Albert Engström
''Den blå färgen'' 01 (The color blue)''Den blå färgen'' 02
* ttp://www.library.ucsb.edu/OBJID/Cylinder11948 ''En visa om kärlekens besvärlighet:'' recitationbr>''En visa om kärlekens besvärlighet:'' song''Låt glaset stå'' (Don't raise the glass)''Rallarevisa:'' song
Song dedicated to Albert Engström * ''Svarta Rudolf'' (Black Rudolph): text
''Black-haired Rudolph:'' translation''Svarta Rudolf:'' recording
{{DEFAULTSORT:Engstrom, Albert 1869 births 1940 deaths People from Hultsfred Municipality Members of the Swedish Academy Swedish editorial cartoonists Swedish humorists Swedish comedy writers 19th-century Swedish illustrators 20th-century Swedish illustrators Swedish magazine illustrators Swedish journalists Swedish satirists Swedish comics artists Swedish male songwriters Swedish-language writers Writers from Kalmar County Musicians from Kalmar County