Engström, Albert [Laurentius Johannes] (1869 - 1940) Väggprydnader och bordsdekorationer. [Stockholm, E. Lundquists Bokförlag, 1909. 4 p., 19 half-tone photolithographic plates. €400,00
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Elephant folio (365 mm x 305 mm), attractive original publisher´s portfolio in red and black. Minor wear of time, minor tears carefully restored with acid free paper at Atelier Tiemeyer, Berlin.

All half - tone photolithographic plates are in mint condition. În all the probability 500 copies printed only. VERY RARE.

Brilliant sample of early XX century social artistry.

Albert Laurentius Johannes Engström (1869 – 1940) was a greatest Swedish social artist, author and member of the Swedish Academy from 1922 Seat Number 18, preceeded by Oscra Montelius and succeeded by Gunnar Mascoll Silfverstolpe). He was among first European social artist who incorporated several different art forms including visual art, poetry, music, theatre and cinema to bring changes to Swedish society.

Among the themes of his many illustrations were those of tramps and drunkards, and indeed alcohol, or rather its adverse effects, featured largely in his humour.He is considred to be 'a father' of North Euuropean social artistry, and called 'Swedish Heinrich Zille' by some art critics.

His famous anti-prohibition poster 'Nej!' ('No!') from 1922 still considered to be a masterpiece by many historians of social artistry. It was reproduced in millions of copies and new reprints in facsimile format are always in print in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries from 1920s and on.


Albert Engström was also one of the first European artists to depict social conditions in Russia during civil war and shortly after civil war. He made hundreds drawings during his journey to Soviet Russia. Many of these drawings displeased commissars and Engström was accused spying on 'young republic of workers and peasants'. Most of his drawings from that period were banned for reproduction in the USSR till the very days of perestroika and the art album on Soviet Russia was kept in 'secret room' at major academic and national libraries through the USSR.

'He had a peculiar face with eyes like a bird of Minerva beneath a lofty forehead and bangs . . . a tough but sensitively chiseled nose and faunlike mouth surrounded by a scraggly French goatee — in short, a face that so captivated Swedes that all were compelled to look over to where he sat. He moved as softly and quietly as a bear and had the lanky appearance of a sailor from Småland. One began thinking of shipwrecks and sleigh rides when he entered a room. But he brought to mind other things as well. He could smile just like Velázquez’s god of wine and roar with laughter like a roustabout . . .' (Evert Taube)

Engström´s art works and stories were frequently reissued in Swedish newspapers and other publications printed in the USA.

He graduated from Norrköping secondary school in 1888 and went to Uppsala University the following year to read Latin and Greek, a pursuit which he abandoned after two years. In 1892 he enrolled at the Valand School of Fine Arts in Gothenburg to study under Carl Larsson.

Between 1894 and 1896 Albert Engström was on the editorial staff for the satirical publication Söndags-Nisse. In 1897 he founded the humor magazine Strix.
Engström coined the word 'Grönköping' in 1895 as a caption for some of his drawings, thereby inventing the fictional Swedish town of the same name. In 2002 the CD Grönköping Tar Ton was issued in Sweden to commemorate one hundred years of Grönköpings Veckoblad (Grönköping's Weekly), a satirical monthly magazine that was founded in 1902.

References: Postrup, Gunnar Av, med, om och kring Albert Engström : bibliografi. Eksjö, Eksjö museum, 1995. 80 p., ill.(Albert Engström sällskapet. Smålandssektionen); Grönköping Tar Ton.Stockholm: Ancha, 2002; Twelve Tales by Albert Engström, trans. by Harold Borland. London: G.G. Harrap, 1949; Sweden’s Best Stories, trans. by Charles Wharton Stork, New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1928; Modern Swedish Short Stories, trans. by E. Sprigge and C. Napier, London: Cape, 1934;Taube, Evert Jag kommer av ett brusand' hav. Stockholm, Albert Bonniers Förlag, 1952; American-Scandinavian Review, trans. by Edith T. Aney and Sven O. Karell. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1954-1955.