Artist · 6 prints
Elsa Beskow Prints
About Elsa Beskow
Elsa Beskow, born Elsa Maartman, was a Swedish author and illustrator of children's picture books. She was born in Stockholm on 11 February 1874 and died in Djursholm, near Stockholm, on 30 June 1953. She studied at the Technical School in Stockholm, now the art college Konstfack, from 1890 to 1895 and then taught drawing. In 1897 she married Natanael Beskow, a theologian and artist, and they raised six sons in Djursholm. Her first book, The Tale of the Little, Little Old Woman, appeared in 1897.
Beskow wrote and illustrated about forty books, mixing everyday Swedish country life with fairy-tale characters. Her breakthrough was Peter in Blueberry Land (1901), followed by Children of the Forest (1910), Pelle's New Suit (1912) and Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender (1918). She drew plants with botanical accuracy and was influenced by British illustrators Walter Crane and Randolph Caldecott and by Art Nouveau. Sweden's Elsa Beskow Award for picture book illustration is named after her.
Elsa Beskow prints: reproductions of the illustrations Swedish author Elsa Beskow painted for her 1920 picture book Lasse-liten i trädgården, published in English as Christopher's Harvest Time. The collection includes Lasse and September in the Maple Tree (1920), Fru Astrakan, September and Lasse in the Apple Tree (1920), Fru Aster, Fru Dalia and the Garden Flowers (1920) and Lasse in the Ring Dance round the Scarecrow (1920).
This selection follows the story of a small boy, Lasse, and September, who shows him the autumn garden. Fruits, vegetables and flowers appear as people, such as Mrs Cabbage, Mrs Astrakan apple, Mrs Aster and Mrs Dahlia, drawn with the plants' real shapes and colours.
The warm autumn colours and gentle story suit children's rooms, nurseries, playrooms and kitchens. All prints are museum-quality reproductions, available unframed or framed with low-glare acrylic glazing, with free shipping and import duties covered.
