Ann Mari Sjögren (1 January 1918 – 11 July 2010) was a Swedish

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

. Sjögren was raised in Nyhamnsläge, a small Swedish fishing community. The younger of two sisters. Her artistic heritage can be traced to her mother who was very conscious of colours, and her father who, in later years spent his time carving figures in wood. She was educated as a commercial artist at Reklamkonstskolan in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, and later worked at Kärnan publishers in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

, at a time when they started to publish children's books. She has been painting fairies for as long as she can remember. Every piece of paper that she found became a little work of art. Her first book, '' En dag i Älvriket'' was published just after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1945. Three years later it was translated into English as “ A Day in Fairy Land”. It was published in ten different languages. It remains a highly collectible antique publication that influenced many post war

baby boom A baby boom is a period marked by a significant increase of births. This demography, demographic phenomenon is usually an ascribed characteristic within the population of a specific nationality, nation or culture. Baby booms are caused by various ...

children. An editorial from an American paper of that time shows the famous actress and film star

Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 190? was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion-picture cont ...

, reading from '' A Day in Fairy Land'' for her four adopted children. She went on to teach adults in

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, croquis or

batik Batik is a dyeing technique using wax Resist dyeing, resist. The term is also used to describe patterned textiles created with that technique. Batik is made by drawing or stamping wax on a cloth to prevent colour absorption during the dyein ...

. Her many books like '' Lill, foundling of the animals'' and ''

The Princess and the Pirate ''The Princess and the Pirate'' is a 1944 American comedy film directed by David Butler, and starring Bob Hope and Virginia Mayo. Based on a story by Sy Bartlett, the film is about a princess who travels incognito to elope with her true love ins ...

'' '' Wedding Bells in Fairyland'' were sold worldwide. In her 88th year, she enjoyed a comeback as fairy nostalgia swept the world as a new art movement, her work being published with modern fantasy masters

Brian Froud Brian Froud (born 1947) is an English fantasy illustrator and conceptual designer. He is most widely known for his 1978 book '' Faeries'' with Alan Lee, and as the conceptual designer of the Jim Henson films '' The Dark Crystal'' (1982) and ...

in ''The Art of Faery'' and Alan Lee in ''The World of Faery'' and in ''500 Fairy Motifs'' by Myrea Pettit.

Works published in following books

*The Art of Faery (2003), written by David Riché, *The World of Faery (2005), written by David Riché, *500 Fairy Motifs (2005), written by Myrea Pettit,

External links

Fairy Paintings - Official site Illustrated article discussing ''A Day in Fairy Land''
1918 births 20th-century Swedish painters 20th-century Swedish women artists 21st-century Swedish painters Swedish fantasy artists 2010 deaths Swedish women painters People from Höganäs Municipality Artists from Skåne County {{Sweden-painter-stub