Among Trolls and Gnomes

All Swedish fairy tales in this collection are illustrated with magnificent drawings by Swedish artist Jon Bauer. This is the main feature of this publication. Bauer was not the only master who turned to the folklore of his native country in his work, but he occupies a completely unique place among such artists. His depictions of fairy-tale trolls and gnomes are so original and distinctive that they inevitably make one believe in the existence of a fairy-tale world inhabited by these beings. Jon was born in the town of Jönköping in the summer of 1882. The future artist's father, Joseph, was engaged in the trade of sausages and cold cuts. Jon had two brothers and a sister, but only he showed interest in drawing. The boy was always scribbling in his notebook and on pieces of paper; in school notebooks, he drew caricatures of his teachers. At first, his parents regarded this activity as youthful mischief, but when Jon turned sixteen, he declared that he wanted to receive a full-fledged art education in Stockholm and enrolled in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Even during his first year of study, his teachers noted Bauer's special talent — even his very small works had a certain monumentality to them. Jon devoted himself to his studies — sketching medieval costumes, plants, studying composition and the basics of traditional drawing. Bauer managed to realize his dream. A peculiar turning point in his artistic education was a trip to the north of the country — to Lapland. The landscapes and the everyday life of the people in this harsh region made a strong impression on the artist. The rich ethnographic material that Jon gathered in Lapland helped him later when working on illustrations for Swedish fairy tales. And there was plenty of work: in 1907, an almanac called "Among Gnomes and Trolls" began to be published in Sweden. It was an annual publication in which Swedish writers printed various fairy tales and folklore stories. The idea turned out to be successful — the almanac exists to this day. Jon was fortunate to illustrate all its issues published up until 1915, with the exception of the fifth collection for 1911. Unfortunately, the artist's life was tragically cut short on November 20, 1918, when Jon, with his young wife and young son, was making his way to Stockholm on the steamboat "Per Brage." The ship was caught in a storm and capsized. All crew members and passengers drowned. Bauer was only 36 years old at the time. When four years later the wreckage of the ship was raised to the surface, the remains of the Bauer family were buried in southern Sweden, in the artist's hometown.