Björn Berg

Collection Hans Erik Börjeson.

Björn Berg was born in Unterwössen, Munich to Swedish parents in 1923. The family settled themselves in New York for nine years between 1926 and 1935. There, Björn’s father, Folke W Berg, made a living by creating portrait and decoration paintings at speak-easy bars. Björn was a student of his fathers and was even handpicked for a special art class which several young talented artists from the entire city attended. While it should be noted that Björn learnt a lot from his father, the fellow New York artist Gustaf Tenggren was not only a great friend of the family, but also a great source of inspiration for Björn.

At the start of the 40s, Björn studied at the Technical School (Konstfack) at the same time as he worked at Gumaelius advertising agency and contributed vignettes to Söndagsnisse-Strix.In 1943 Björn studied at Graphics School of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where his teacher, Harald Sallberg, coined Björn’s nickname to “Little Rembrandt”. Like Bengt Lindström and Olle Bærtling, Björn studied under André Lhôte and Fernand Léger at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris during the latter part of the 1940s. His studies also included fresco work for professor Pierre Ducos de la Haille, while partially supporting himself by selling photographs and short reports to Aftonbladet.
In 1952 became Björn employed as reportage illustrator for Dagens Nyheter, succeeding Birger Lundquist. For 40 years, Björn had a close collaboration with Alf Henrikson on the Namn & Nytt page. He also conducted several reports and trips together with journalist Karl-Anders Adrup, Torsten Ehrenmark, Red Top, Birgitta Edlund, among others.

Björn’s collaboration with Alf Henrikson resulted even in a large quantity of history and poetry books. He became well-known as the illustrator of Astrid Lindgren's books about Emil in Lönneberga, Alf Prøysen's books about Mrs. Pepperpot, and Sagan om Pomperipossa med den långa näsan by Falstaff, Fakir, to name a few.

Björn and his wife, the artist Eva Gehlin-Berg, had for many years a close collaborative relationship. For 80 years, one could find on Dagens Nyheter’s Namn & Nytt page one could find their witty texts and images based upon everyday impressions and events. They also created some public works together.

Björn Berg had a close affiliation with Härjedalen, which is evident in the large quantity of water colours which display the shimmer over blue-tones mountains and lush marshes.

Björn lived between the 17th of September 1923 up until the 13th of July in 2008.