Drawing Norway

Vintage illustrations from the book Norske Malebøker by Einar Økland, which features his extensive collection of Norwegian coloring books and cut & paste books With big thanks to Are Mokkelbost (b-o-r-g.org) Hans Hauger, 1940s Are Mokkelbost—whose incredible work I featured in 2009—tells me Norske Malebøker was designed by Yokoland (website / facebook), "an interesting group of designers/artists with many fine book releases." It was published in 2012 by Samlaget. The illustrations here date from about 1920 to 1945. Hans Hauger, 1940sPaul Lillo-Stenberg, 1940sPaul Lillo-Stenberg, 1940sMarie Walle and Eyvin Ovrum, 1921Marie Walle and Eyvin Ovrum, 1921A. Tyrihjell, 1930sInga Havig-Gjelseth, 1940sInga Havig-Gjelseth, 1940sArne Johnson, around 1940Arne Johnson, around 1940Johs. Berggren, ca. 1940Elbjørg Øien Moum, 1930s Elbjørg Øien Moum, 1930s Elbjørg Øien Moum, 1930s Augusta Sand, 1911Eyvin Ovrum, 1937Eyvin Ovrum, 1938Thorbjørn Egner, 1940 Olaf Reither, 1940s?Jens JensenHans Hauger, 1940s?Per Krogh, 1921 Scariest coloring book ever?cover of Norske Malebøker by Einar Økland Are says about "Mr. Goatee": On the cover you see the Alf Bjercke paint company's character, a kind of artist type with a moustache and pointy beard, and always a sly smile. He looks similar to Alf Bjercke himself, and is interesting as this character became a kind of mould when describing an archetypical artist or painter in advertisements. Yet, it is hard not to see the resemblance to the archetypical jew of the Nazi propaganda of the same time, which makes it all very peculiar to me. Especially since one of our dearest children's book authors, Thorbjørn Egner, cast another painter character in a similar look, Maler Klattiklatt (Painter Splat-in-splat), who went to "Negroland" in a story released during the Nazi siege of Norway. In 1945, when Norway was liberated, the same character was suddenly cast in another very political story where he escaped the Nazis to join the Resistance in the woods, taught them to paint, and came back to the city after the war and helped repaint Norway in jolly colors to celebrate the freedom (!). Egner rarely mentioned these books after the last book, even though they sold very well. One reason was that he felt colouring books were a poor way for a child to learn to draw. But I can't help speculate whether there are other reasons as well. Previously: Mokkelbost's Entity