John Bauer
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Two young shepherds outside the city walls
Signed JB. Indian ink, hightening white and watercolour on paper. 25 x 22 cm.
Literature
John Bauer "John Bauer: en konstnär och hans sagovärld", LiberFörlag in collaboration with Nationalmus., Stockholm, 1982, compare drawing on p. 180-181. (see picture)
More information
Jönköpings berömda sagokonstnär John Bauer föddes 1882. Hans omtyckta skildringar av troll, älvor, tomtar och andra sagoväsen är inspirerade av det småländska landskapet. Redan som 25-åring när han tecknade den kända sagoserien "Bland tomtar och troll" tillhörde han en av Sveriges främsta sagokonstnärer.
Bauer hade redan i tidiga ålder en dragning till naturen. När han var klar med studierna i Stockholm återvände han tillbaka till sina hemtrakter och började leta efter en bostad till sig själv och Ester. Till slut hittade de Villa Björkudden, som var en fin stuga belägen vid vattnet i vackra Bunn. Här hade de naturen nära till hands och John tillbringade ofta hela dagarna i skogen. Bland tallar och mossbevuxna stenarna såg John figurer som han omvandlade till troll, tomtar, älvor och andra sagoväsen i sina teckningar.
Artist
John Bauer was born in 1882 and was a Swedish artist, primarily renowned for his paintings and illustrations in the early editions of the fairy tale collection "Bland tomtar och troll”. Thanks to his magical illustrations of princesses, trolls, and giants, Bauer has significantly influenced our perception of creatures and mythical figures in traditional Swedish stories and Nordic folklore.
Bauer grew up in Jönköping, and a large part of his artistry was inspired by the mystical forests of Småland, where trolls and other beings seemed to emerge from the rocky outcrops. During his years of study, he was fascinated by early German and Italian painting but soon returned to the Swedish fairytale forest. At the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, he met his future wife, Esther Ellqvist, who often posed as a model and served as inspiration for the princess Tuvstarr in Bauer's works.
Most of Bauer's paintings are created using watercolors, although he has also produced some using oil. By the 1910s, thanks to his fairy tale paintings, Bauer was already an established and beloved artist when he chose to conclude his role as a fairy tale illustrator. In his final years, he explored other imaginative expressions that would shape Bauer's last works, such as "The Dancing Nymphs" and "Blue Eva". John Bauer's final significant painting was created for the auditorium at Karlskrona Girls' School in 1917, an oil painting depicting the goddess Freja, with his wife Esther as a model.
The entire Bauer-Ellqvist family died in a boat accident when the steamer Per Brahe sank during an autumn storm on Vättern on November 20, 1918.