Olaf Gulbransson

Biography

Posters, illustrations, book covers, book jackets. Norwegian. Born 26 May 1873 in Christiania (today Oslo). Father a printer. 1885-90: studied in Oslo at the Statens Håndverks- og Kunstindustriskole (also: Konelige Kunst og Haandverkskole) and in 1900 at the Académie Colarossi, Paris. From 1890: illustrated books and journals in Norway. 1902: moved to Munich where he worked for the publisher Albert Langen who, with Th.Th. Heine, had founded the satirical journal Simplicissimus in 1896. 1902-44: illustrated for Simplicissimus, producing many of the finest ‘caricatures’ of these decades. From 1910: member of the Neuen Sezession. 1916-17: war artist (Propagandazeichner), Berlin. From 1918: member of the Royal Academy, Berlin. c1920-22: designed emergency money (Notgeld). 1923-7: lived in Oslo. 1927-56: lived in Munich. From 1927: member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. From 1929: taught at the Munich Akademie für Zeichnen und Malen. Aug. 1933: his 60th birthday exhibition in Munich closed by the NSDAP (Völkischer Beobachter, 10.8.1933: ‘Nationaler Protest gegen Gulbransson’). This action was more a warning than the start of a prohibition; he continued to teach and to illustrate for Simplicissimus. 1942: member of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. 1956: awarded the City of Munich Art Prize. 1958: awarded the Joseph Drexel Prize, Nuremberg. In his lifetime his publishing clients had included Cassirer, Diederichs, Insel, Piper and Rowohlt. Died 18 September 1958 in his house, Schererhof, at Tegernsee, Upper Bavaria, where he had lived for some years. May 1966: opening of the Olaf Gulbransson Museum, Tegernsee.

Writings by

  • Berühmte Zeitgenossen (caricatures), Munich: Langen, 1905
  • Aus meiner Schublade. Album, Munich: Langen, 1911/12
  • Den Helden von Tsingtau, Munich: Langen, 1915
  • Es war einmal, Munich: Piper, 1934 (autobiography
  • lim. ed., new ed. 1952)
  • Sprüche und Wahrheiten, Leipzig: Reclam, 1939 (intro: Peter Bamm)
  • Und so weiter, Munich, 1954 (later eds. 1973, 1975). The latter two autobiographical titles have lettered texts
  • the two titles were published in one volume by Piper, 1981.

Writings about

  • 1960-present: Vollmer, 1961 (with biblio.)
  • An excellent biography (by Gulbransson’s 3rd wife) is Dagny Gulbransson-Björnson, Olaf Gulbransson. Sein Leben, Neske, 1967. (Some references are to ‘Dagny Björnson Gulbransson’ and ‘Dagny Gulbransson-Björnson’.) An additional excellent reference is Olaf Gulbrannson (exh. cat.), Munich: Prestel, 1980 containing numerous essays, list of OG’s exhs., writings by and about OG.
  • 1924-59: ‘Gelegenheitsgraphik’ (New Year cards, etc.), Die Bücherstube, 1924, pp. 97-160, esp. p. 135
  • Peter Alton, ‘Dreissig Jahre “Simplicissimus”’, Die Reklame, May 1925, pp. 470-72
    • H. Hauschild, ‘Über politische Propaganda’, Buch- und Werbekunst, 1932, H3, pp. 68-83 and inset (tr. John Power), esp. inset no. I (poster)
  • Wilhelm Schäfer, Der andere Gulbransson, Berlin/Königsberg/Leipzig: Kanter, 1939
  • Olaf Gulbransson (exh. cat.), Hanover: Wilhelm-Busch-Museum, 1953 (includes photo of OG with son)
  • Werner Klemke, ‘“Die Inkunabeln sind immer die Besten”’, Bildende Kunst, 1957, pp. 335-8, 351-2 (about poster exh. in Museum für Deutsche Geschichte, Berlin)
  • Eugen Roth (and others), Olaf Gulbransson. Maler und Zeichner, Munich: Bruckmann, 1959
  • Jan Askeland, Leif Østby (eds.), Olaf Gulbransson (exh. cat.), Oslo: Nasjonalgalleriet, 1962
  • Dagny Gulbransson-Björnson, Olaf Gulbransson. Sein Leben, Neske, 1967
  • ‘Wie Gulbransson nach München kam’ (extract from Dagny Gulbransson-Björnson, Olaf Gulbransson, Neske, 1967) in Galerie Günther Franke exh. cat., Olaf Gulbransson , Munich, 1971
    • Jürgen Gottschalk, ‘Notgeldscheine als Gegenstand der Gebrauchsgraphik’ (emergency money), Marginalien, no. 59, 1975, pp. 25-31
  • D. Gulbransson-Björnson, Das Olaf Gulbransson Buch, Munich, 1977 (p/b ed., Munich, 1979)
  • Olaf Gulbransson, Graphik, Gemälde aus der Privatsammlung Dagny Björnson-Gulbransson und den Bayerischen Staatsgemäldesammlungen (exh. cat.), Hannover: Wilhelm-Busch-Museum, 1979
  • Olaf Gulbrannson. Werke und Dokumente (exh. cat.), Munich: Prestel, 1980
    • note on exh. cat. Olaf Gulbransson, in Graphische Kunst, 16/1, 1981
  • Pfäfflin, 1986
  • Helga Gutbrod (and others), 100 Jahre Simplicissimus (exh. cat.), Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen and Olaf Gulbransson Museum, 1996 (includes history and biblio. on Simplicissimus)
  • Imprimatur, 2001, p. 89 (Simplicissimus illust., 1906)
  • Benezit. Dictionary of Artists, Paris: Gründ, 2006., 2006.
  • Hellmut Rademacher, Das deutsche Plakat. Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart, Dresden: VEB Verlag der Kunst, 1965., 1965, pp. 80, 91, 93, 198

Exhibitions

  • Oslo (Christiania), 1899
  • Akademie der Künste, Berlin, 1924 (then to Dresden and Leipzig)
  • Bruno Cassirer, Berlin, 1927
  • Städtischen Galerie, Munich, 1933
  • Galerie Günther Franke, Munich, 1937
  • Wilhelm-Busch-Museum, Hannover, 1953 (80th birthday)
  • Museum für Deutsche Geschichte, Berlin, 1957 (group)
  • Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, 1962
  • Wilhelm Busch Museum, Hannover, 1964 (group)
  • Galerie Günther Franke, Munich, 1971
  • Wilhelm Busch Museum, Hannover, 1979
  • Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Dec. 1980-Feb. 1981 (then to 1982 at numerous venues in Norway and Germany
  • see 1980 exh. cat. above)
  • Olaf Gulbransson Museum, Tegernsee, 1982, 1996
  • Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken, 1997.

Collections

  • Olaf Gulbransson Museum, Tegernsee.