Olaf Gulbransson
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Olaf Gulbransson (born 26 May 1873 in Oslo, died 18 September 1958 in Tegernsee, Germany) was a Norwegian artist, painter and designer. He is probably best known for his caricatures and illustrations.
[edit] Biography
From 1890, he worked for many Norwegian magazines, including Tyrihans, Pluk, Paletten, Fluesoppen, Sfinx and Trangviksposten (1899-1901). In 1902 he moved to Germany to work for the satirical magazine Simplicissimus in Munich after editor Albert Langen had been in contact with author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson looking for Norwegian talent. With publicity increasing Gulbransson's fame, and even though he lived in Germany between 1923 and 1927, he drew for Tidens tegn in Oslo.
In 1929 he became Professor at the art academy in Munich. In 1933 the art academy in Berlin arranged a special exhibition to celebrate Gulbransson's 60th birthday. The exhibition was shut down by the Nazi party after only two days. Nevertheless, Simplicissimus editors Franz Schoenberner and Thomas Theodor Heine have reasoned that Gulbransson actively cooperated with the Nazis from 1933 on. In 1933 he signed a petition against a Wagner performance of Thomas Mann as "European" and "un-national". Gulbransson illustrated many books, including the children's books Det var en gang (Once upon a time), which was published simultaneously in Norway and Germany in 1934, and Und so weiter (And so on) which was published in Germany in 1954.
Gulbransson's cartoons contain a clear, precise streak, and reject portrait art in the decorative style of the time. He became known as one of the foremost caricaturists of the century by most Norwegians.
Gulbransson was married three times, lastly with Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson's niece, Dagny Bjørnson.
[edit] Other
In 2004 the artists Lars Fiske and Steffen Kverneland published the book Olaf G., a retrospective comic book about Olaf Gulbransson.
