John Bauer was a Swedish painter and illustrator, who represented Romantic nationalism movement. His illustrations and paintings broadened the understanding and appreciation of Swedish folklore, fairy tales and landscape.
Background
John Bauer was born on June 4, 1882 in Jonkoping, Sweden. He was the son of Josef Bauer and Emma Charlotta Wadell. The Bauer family happiness ended abruptly in 1889, when John was seven years old. His sister Anna died suddenly at the tender age of thirteen and this death had an overwhelming effect on John and his family.
Education
Initially, Bauer was educated at the Jönköping Public School of Higher Education. During the period from 1892 to 1898, he studied at the Jönköping Technical School.
At the age of 16, John went to Stockholm to begin his art studies. After two years, in 1898, he was accepted at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, where Classical Art classes, Anatomy, Perspective and History of Art lectures comprised seven lecture hours, with overtime and drawing assignments at home.
John Bauer started his career as an illustrator for various magazines, when he still was a student. One of the greatest influences on him was the fellow illustrator Albert Engström, who was one of the most influential journalists in Sweden. Bauer sold his first illustrations to the Söndags-Nisse, which was a light-hearted Swedish magazine. The painter continued to earn money with his illustrations for this journal and they even offered him a permanent job, which he turned down.
In July 1904, Bauer travelled to Lappland, staying there for a month, sketching and photographing the area, its people and their way of life. He illustrated the book "Lappland, det stora svenska framtidslandet" (Lappland, the great Swedish land of the future), which was published in 1908. Bauer also turned many of his sketches and photographs into paintings.
The turning point in John Bauer’s artistic career came in 1907, when the publishers, Åhlén & Åkerlund, asked him to provide illustrations for their newly launched Bland tomtar og troll, (Among Gnomes and Trolls), which was a popular Swedish annual, which was full of folklore stories and fairy tales written by various authors. The first edition was published in 1907. Except for 1911 issue, Bauer’s illustrations appeared in the first nine publications.
In the spring of 1908, John and his wife Ester Ellqvist traveled to Italy, settling in a villa above Volterra. They also visited Verona, Florence, Siena, Rome, Naples and Capri.
In 1914, following his return from Italy, Bauer's illustrations started to be influenced by the Italian Renaissance. However, after eight years of supplying paintings for the annuals, Bauer had had enough and wanted to move on with his art and 1915 marked the last year he provided material for the annuals.
When evening came, troll mother and the boy sneaked out of the mountain. They carried the trolls' cauldron between themselves on a stick
Trollandchild
Loki finds Gullveig's Heart
I fara för sälar
The Man Who Walked Among Gnom
At that moment she was changed by magic to a wonderful little fairy
Då och då tog tomten tag i tyglarna
She gave the eagle her petticoat
Barn och stentroll
En riddare red fram
Laplanders in snowstorm
The cottage at the foot of the mountain
Among Gnomes and Trolls
Awake Groa Awake Mother
In the Christmas Night
Nils Holgersson
Svipdag transformed
Tyr and Fenrir
Inge dark lake
Svipdag speaks with Thokk
Julnatten
Mother love
So, how is your appetite, troll mother continued
Odin and Sleipnir
An old mountain troll
The Fairy Princess
Jultomten
Good evening, old man! the boy greeted
Freyja and Svipdag
King of the hill
Freja
One summer's evening they went with Bianca Maria deep into the forest
Here is a piece of a troll herb which nobody else but me can find
Self-portrait
Stormjätten jordskakaren
Into the wide wide world
Jbleap the elk
Matts 1903
Portrait of an elegant lady
Root trolls
Ester in the cottage
Loki and Idun
When she woke up again she was lying on the moss in the forest
Look at my sons! You won't find more beautiful trolls on this side of the moon
Stalo and Kauras
Bergaporten
Connections
Bauer married Ester Ellqvist on 18 December 1906. The couple had one son — Bengt.
Some time later, the marriage of John and Ester Bauer was failing. Ester saw herself and her life being taken away from her. She had wanted to be a portrait artist but instead she was simply a lonely housewife married to an artist. Ester believed she had nothing to show for herself. Again, another underlying cause for the unhappy marriage was Ester’s discontent about where she lived. Ester had always wanted the city life and John was content with his countryside home on the bank of Lake Brunn. They did return to Stockholm during the winter, but that was never enough for Ester.