John Bauer
(1882-1918)
Illustrations from the German Translation of
Viktor Rydberg's Fädernas Gudasaga
as Die Göttersage der Väter
Translated into German by Josef Hiersche
The 10 black and white images were used again in the 2003 translation
by William P. Reaves titled "Our Fathers' Godsaga"
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Color Plate
from the Cover |
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As a Swedish painter and illustrator, John
Bauer produced portraits, landscapes, and illustrations for
books and magazines. He is best known for his illustrations in
early editions of Bland Tomtar och Troll ("Among Gnomes
and Trolls"), an anthology of Swedish folklore. Bauer was born
and raised in Jönköping. He studied at the Royal Swedish Academy
of Arts in Stockholm, where he received his first commissions to
illustrate books and magazines. While there, he met and married
fellow artist Ester Ellqvist in 1906, who became the model for
many of his storybook princesses. At age 36, Bauer, Ester and
their young son, Bengt, tragically drowned in a shipwreck
on Lake Vättern.
Bauer traveled widely early in his career, throughout Lappland, Germany and Italy, cultures which influenced his work. He produced oil paintings, portraits and frescos, but the bulk of his works were illustrations primarily in watercolor, monochrome or muted colors. As the sole surviving print in color from this set, the cover plate for Viktor Rydberg's Die Göttersage der Väter indicates that the remainder of these illustrations were originally in color as well. They were published in black and white, however, and the originals were destroyed in a fire, so we may never know what they looked like. Full color images of some of Bauer's other works are found below to give an idea what the artist may have intended. |
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 The Ring (1914) |
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| Colorized
version by Guddipoland at Deviant Art |
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  All the original images were destroyed except this sketch, now housed in the JÖNKÖPINGS LÄNS MUSEUM, Sweden.  Colorized Image from Zazzle |
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 Cover Art |
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OTHER WORKS The following examples show Bauer's sense of color and attention to fine detail. Oil sketch of Freyja (1905)  The Princess in the Forest (1915)  Into the Wide World (1907)  |
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