Albert Laurentius Johannes Engström (May 12, 1869 – November 16, 1940) was a Swedish artist, author and member of the Swedish Academy from 1922. He was born in Lönneberga, Kalmar County (Småland), but spent most of his childhood in Hult (near Eksjö) where his father was the railroad stationmaster. He graduated from Norrköping secondary school in 1888, and went to Uppsala Universitet in 1889 to read Latin and Greek which he aborted after two years. In 1892 he enrolled at the Valand School of Fine Arts in Gothenburg to study under Carl Larsson.
Between 1894-1896 he was on the editorial staff for the comedy magazine Söndags-Nisse and in 1897 he founded his own: Strix. Among the themes of his many cartoon illustrations were those of tramps and drunkards, and indeed alcohol, or rather its adverse effects, featured largely in his humour; one such recurring fictional character was Kolingen.
In 1895, Engström used the word Grönköping as a headline for some of his drawings, thereby inventing the fictional Swedish town of the same name.[1]
Several of Engström’s stories have been translated into English. Twenty titles have appeared in books and magazines published in England and the United States.
Charles Wharton Stork 1928
E. Sprigge and C. Napier 1934
Harold Borland 1949
Edith T. Aney and Sven O. Karell 1954-1955
| Preceded by Oscar Montelius |
Swedish Academy, Seat No 18 1922-1940 |
Succeeded by Gunnar Mascoll Silfverstolpe |