Elsa Beskow
The artist of the picture book.
Elsa Beskow wrote and illustrated Children of the Forest, Peter in Blueberry Land and The Hat Cottage. Her pictures have shaped how Swedish children see nature.
Elsa Beskow was born Elsa Maartman in 1874 in Stockholm. When she was young her father’s business went bankrupt, and he died shortly afterwards. She grew up in a household where her aunts were important role models. She trained as a drawing teacher at the Technical School, today’s Konstfack, and worked as a teacher before making her name as a picture-book artist.
Her first book, The Tale of the Little Little Old Woman, appeared in 1897. In 1894 she had married the theologian Natanael Beskow, and the family settled in Djursholm outside Stockholm. They had six sons, and the children and everyday life inspired her books.
Peter in Blueberry Land of 1901 was a major breakthrough. It was followed by Ollie’s Ski Trip, Children of the Forest, Pelle’s New Suit, Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender and The Hat Cottage, among others. In all she wrote and illustrated some forty books. Many of them have never gone out of print and have been translated into a number of languages.
Beskow’s style is influenced by Art Nouveau and by English illustrators such as Walter Crane. The pictures are detailed watercolours with clear outlines and bright colours. Nature is full of animated plants and creatures, but it is also closely observed. She combined the imagination of the fairy tale with a teacher’s desire to explain how the world works.
Elsa Beskow died in 1953. Since 1958 the Elsa Beskow Plaque has been awarded to outstanding Swedish picture-book illustrators. For more than a hundred years her pictures have shaped Swedish children’s ideas of the forest, the seasons and the world of fairy tales.