Eva Ottilia Adelborg (6 December 1855 – 19 March 1936) was a Swedish children's book illustrator, comics artist and author and the founder of a school for

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is divided into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

making. A literary award, the Ottilia Adelborg Prize, was established in her honor in 2000, and there is an Ottilia Adelborg Museum in the municipality of

Gagnef Gagnef () is the second largest locality situated in Gagnef Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden with 1,049 inhabitants in 2010. Gagnef consists of several small villages: The Church Village, Kyrkbyn, The Station Village, Stationsbyn, Moje, Moje ...

Family and education

She was born in

Karlskrona Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Swed ...

, Sweden, the daughter of Bror Jacob Adelborg and Hedvig Catharina af Uhr. She was the granddaughter of Erik Otto Borgh (1741–1787), a Swedish Army captain who was ennobled under the family name Adelborg by King

Gustavus III of Sweden Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...

. Her sister Gertrud was a women's rights activist, while her sister, Maria Adelborg, also became an artist. She showed early talent for drawing and studied at the Royal Academy of Art (1878–1884), and she later furthered her art education with trips to the Netherlands (1898) and Italy (1901) as well as France. In 1888, she joined the women's association

Nya Idun Nya Idun is a Swedish cultural association for women founded in 1885, originally as a female counterpart to Sällskapet Idun ('the Idun Society'). Its aim was to "gather educated women in the Stockholm area for informal gatherings". There was a ...

Career

Adelborg quickly became known as a children's book illustrator, writing and illustrating over a dozen books between 1885 and 1920 and illustrating another dozen books for other authors. One of her best-known books was an alphabet of flowers, ''Prinsarnes blomsteralfabet'' (The Princes' Flower Alphabet, 1892) that was strongly influenced by the work of

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and K ...

. The title referred to the fact that at the time there were three young princes in the Swedish royal household. Another successful and much reprinted book was ''Pelle Snygg och barnen i Snaskeby'' (1896; in English as ''Clean Peter and the Children of Grubbylea'', 1901). These and other of her early works led to Adelborg being called "the creator of the Swedish picture book for children". Her style has been compared to that of both Crane and

Elsa Beskow Elsa Beskow ( Maartman; 11February 187430June 1953) was a famous Swedish author and illustrator of children's books. Among her better known books are ''Tale of the Little Little Old Woman'' and ''Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender''. Back ...

. She also designed wallpaper patterns and home furnishings. In 1911, she designed the poster for the first major exhibition of women artists held in Sweden. Adelborg was very interested in handicrafts and in 1899 became a member of the executive board of the newly formed

Swedish Handicraft Association The Swedish Handicraft Association () is a non-profit organization with regional offices and sales outlets throughout Sweden. Founded in 1899 by the textile artist Lilli Zickerman to market high-quality handicrafts at a store in central Stockhol ...

. In 1903, she moved to

, where she founded a school for lace-making and a local "Memory House" (Minesstugan) housing local crafts and historical artefacts. She died in Gagnef in 1936. Her work is held by the Ottilia Adelborg Museum in Gagnef, by the Zorn Museum, and by the National Museum in Stockholm.

References

External links

Ottilia Adelborg
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adelborg, Eva Ottilia 1855 births 1936 deaths Swedish children's writers Swedish women children's writers 19th-century Swedish women artists 19th-century Swedish women writers 20th-century Swedish women writers Swedish comics artists Swedish female comics artists Swedish children's book illustrators Swedish women illustrators School founders 20th-century Swedish women artists Members of Nya Idun

Family and education

Career

References

Further reading

External links