Editing Elsa Beskow

{{Short description|Swedish artist (1874–1953)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Elsa Beskow
| image            = Elsa Beskow - from Svenskt Porträttgalleri XX.png
| caption          = Elsa Beskow in 1901
| birth_name       = Elsa Maartman
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1874|02|11|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Stockholm]], Sweden
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1953|06|30|1874|02|11|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Stockholm]], Sweden
| resting_place    = 
| occupation       = Author
| language         = [[Swedish language|Swedish]]
| nationality      = [[Swedes|Swedish]]
| education        = [[Anna Whitlock]]'s school
| genre            = [[Children's literature]]
| notableworks     = ''Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender''
| spouse           = {{marriage|[[Natanael Beskow]]|1897}}
| children         = 6
| relatives        = [[Elisabeth Beskow]] husband's cousin
| website          = [http://elsabeskow.se/ www.elsabeskow.se]
}}

'''Elsa Beskow''' ({{nee}} '''Maartman'''; 11{{nbsp}}February 1874{{snd}}30{{nbsp}}June 1953) was a famous [[Swedes|Swedish]] author and illustrator of [[Children's literature|children's books]]. Among her better known books are ''Tale of the Little Little Old Woman'' and ''Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender''.<ref>Hammar, Stina ''Solägget: fantasi och verklighet Elsa Beskows konst'' (Bonnier, Stockholm 2002) {{ISBN|91-0-057914-9}}</ref>

== Background ==
Born in [[Stockholm]] her parents were businessman Bernt Maartman (1841–1889), whose family came from [[Bergen]], Norway, and Augusta Fahlstedt (1850–1915). Beskow studied Art Education at [[Konstfack]], University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, then called ''Tekniska skolan'', or the Technical school, in Stockholm.<ref>Björkman, Ivar; ''Djursholm – staden på landet'' (Djursholms Forntid och Framtid, 1982) ISBN /91-85549-00-2</ref>

She married former minister and social worker, doctor of theology [[Natanael Beskow]] in 1897. Elsa Beskow met her future husband at [[Djursholms samskola]] while serving as a teacher where he served as head master. From 1900 they lived in Villa Ekeliden in [[Djursholm]] which had initially been built for the author [[Viktor Rydberg]]. They had six sons, including the artist Bo Beskow (1906–1989) and geologist Gunnar Beskow (1901–1991).

== Career ==
In 1894 Beskow started to contribute to the children's magazine ''Jultomten''. She ultimately began publishing her own books, doing both illustration and text. Overall, she would publish some forty books with her own text and images. 

Beskow frequently combined reality with elements from the fairy tale world. Children meet elves or goblins, and farm animals talk with people. Central themes were the relationships between children and adults and children's independent initiative. Her work "depicted a happy home atmosphere in the Swedish countryside of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries."<ref name="credoref">{{Cite web|url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/kidlit/beskow_elsa_maartman/0|title=Elsa Beskow|website=Credo}}</ref>

Beskow became one of the most well known of all Swedish children's book artists. Many of her books became classics and are continually reprinted.<ref>{{cite book | last = Ahlgren| first =Stig | author-link = Stig Ahlgren | title =Insnöad: Läsning i blandade ämnen | publisher = [[Rabén & Sjögren]] | year = 1977| location =Ystad | isbn = 9789129479195| page =138 }}</ref> Beskow also illustrated ABC books and songbooks for Swedish schools. Her book pages are often framed by decorative framework of the [[Art Nouveau]] style.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/beskow.htm |title=Elsa Beskow |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727173040/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/beskow.htm |archive-date=27 July 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Beskow received "international recognition for simple, cheerful stories and outstanding illustrations."<ref name="credoref" />

== Poem ==
[[File:Elsa Beskow - Sov du lilla videung, än så är det vinter... - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Poem Illustrated by Elsa Beskow about trees in winter (early 1900s, Nationalmuseum Stockholm.)]]{{Verse translation|Sof du lilla vide ung,
än så är det vinter.
Än så sofva björk och ljung
ros och hyacinter.
Än så är det långt till vår,
innan rönn i blomning står.
Sof du lilla vide,
än så är det vinter.|Sleep, young little willow,
it is still winter. 
Still the birches and heathers
roses and hyacinths are sleeping. 
Still spring is far away,
before the rowans are in bloom. 
Sleep, little willow,
it is still winter.|lang=sv}}{{clear}}

==Legacy==
The Elsa Beskow Award was created in 1958 to recognize the year's best Swedish picture book illustrator.<ref name="Silvey1995">{{cite book|author=Anita Silvey|title=Children's Books and Their Creators|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=graiX5o4tMYC&pg=PA59|year=1995|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=0-395-65380-0|pages=59–}}</ref>

== Selected works ==
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-break}}
* ''[[Tale of the Little Little Old Woman]]'', 1897
* ''[[Children from Solbacka]]'', 1898
* ''[[Peter in Blueberry Land]]'', 1901
* ''[[Olle's ski trip]]'', 1907
* ''[[Children of the Forest (book)|Children of the Forest]]'', 1910
* ''[[Pelle's New Suit]]'', 1912
* ''[[Flower Festival in the Hill]]'', 1914
* ''[[George's book]]'', 1916
* ''[[Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender]]'', 1918
* ''[[Little Lasse in the garden]]'', 1920
* ''[[Baby Brother's sailing journey]]'', 1921
* ''[[Bubble Muck]]'', 1921
* ''[[Grandma's quilt]]'', 1922
{{Col-break}}
* ''[[Christopher's harvest time]]'', 1923
* ''[[Aunt Brown's Birthday]]'', 1925
* ''[[Jan and all his friends]]'', 1928
* ''[[Hat Cottage]]'', 1930
* ''[[Grandma and-down Light]]'', 1930
* ''[[Around the year]]'', 1931
* ''[[Buddy's Adventures in the Blueberry Patch]]'', 1931
* ''[[The Sun Egg]]'', 1932
* ''[[Woody, Hazel & Little Pip]]'', 1939
* ''[[Talented Annika]]'', 1941
* ''[[Uncle Blue's New Boat]]'', 1942
* ''[[Peter and Lotta's Adventure]]'', 1947
* ''[[Red bus, green car]]'', 1952
{{Col-break}}
[[File:Tant Grön, tant Brun och tant Gredelin.jpg|thumb|''Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender'' artwork in the Stockholm subway]]
{{col-end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* Hammar, Stina  ''Elsa Beskow'' (1958)
* Håkansson, Gunvor ''Elsa Beskow och Astrid Lindgren'' (1967)'
* Sjögren, Margareta ''Elsa Beskow och hennes värld''  (1983)

== Further reading ==
{{commonscat}}
* {{SKBL}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.florisbooks.co.uk/elsabeskow.html Elsa Beskow Biography at Floris Books, her English language publisher]. '''English'''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050516082813/http://www.bonniercarlsen.se/beskow/meny1.htm Site dedicated to Elsa Beskow]. ''' Swedish'''
* [http://www.ajum.de/html/j-j/pdf/0602_beskow-elsa.pdf Elsa Beskow (JulimJournals)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121224134955/http://www.ajum.de/html/j-j/pdf/0602_beskow-elsa.pdf |date=2012-12-24 }}. '''German'''
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Elsa Beskow}}
* {{Librivox author |id=2180}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beskow, Elsa}}
[[Category:1874 births]]
[[Category:1953 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Swedish women artists]]
[[Category:20th-century Swedish artists]]
[[Category:Artists from Stockholm]]
[[Category:Swedish-language writers]]
[[Category:Swedish children's writers]]
[[Category:Swedish children's book illustrators]]
[[Category:Swedish women children's writers]]
[[Category:Swedish women children's book  illustrators]]
[[Category:Konstfack alumni]]
[[Category:Art Nouveau illustrators]]
[[Category:Swedish people of Norwegian descent]]
[[Category:Members of Nya Idun]]