Egon Mathiesen’s picture books from the 40s are original works of art painted for
children. They now experience a renaissance both nationally and internationally. Aben Osvald (Malcolm the Monkey) was published in Germany as late as in 1995. Egon
Mathiesen (1907 - 1976) was primarily a painter. He made his debut in The Artists’ Autumn
Exhibition in 1932 with a series of pictures with abstract motifs. This was just at the time when
Danish visual art was going through a remarkable period of rejuvenation with its roots in the ideas of cultural radicalism. Egon Mathiesen’s picture books are paintings for children. He transferred the abstract quality of his paintings to picture books, thereby bringing a new element to the genre. His aim was to combine text, colour, rhythm and - humanism, and the books are creative and imaginative in both text and pictures. The most famous of them were created during and immediately after the Second World War. “The picture book is a noble form of literature,” he wrote in a posthumous manuscript “Malerkunst og billedbog” (Painting and Picture Book), where he expresses his philosophy as reflected in his art.
Like many others in the genre in the 30s, Egon Mathiesen’s first picture book, Vi vil
flyve (We Want to Fly) (1939) has a technical wonder as its central feature. In the years leading up to 1967 a whole string of picture books appeared, the most important of which were Frederik med bilen (Frederik with the Car) (1944), Aben Osvald (Malcolm the Monkey) (1947) and Mis med de blå øjne (Pussy with the Blue Eyes) (1949). Mathiesen was awarded the Danish children’s book prize for the last of these, which at the same time ensured him an international reputation. The books are characterised by a naivistic simplicity allied with a highly developed stylization, a bright and colourful delight for the senses. They show a close accord between text and picture, both of them deriving impulses from children’s own ways of expressing themselves. The texts have a background in nursery rhymes, their play on words and their rhythmical use of the everyday spoken language. The reader is irresistibly
involved as a co-creator.
In Fredrik med bilen there is a stress on the significance of community feeling. Fredrik travels the world to see whether there really are such things as black children. He is amazed to discover both black, yellow, red and white children all over the world, and they quickly become his friends. In Mis med de blå øjne, the rejected cat goes out into the world - up hill and down dale – to find the land with lots of mice so that it can gain the confidence of the other cats with their yellow eyes. Aben Osvald, about a rebellion against the use of dictatorial power, is more than 50 years old, but it is as fresh and up-to-date as ever. At the start of the book, the little monkey is living in harmony with nature and himself. He dreams of red apples, enormous apples as big as balloons. This is a monkey’s paradise - until the big angry monkey comes along and spoils the idyll and takes control over the others by means of threats and bother. If Malcolm wants to smile a little, he has to hide. The picture of him doing this is sophisticated in its very simplicity. A tree trunk with a branch - and a monkey’s tale. Now Malcolm has had enough. He says “No!” and his resolve is such that the other monkeys join in his rebellion. Peace is re-established, but the big angry monkey is not allowed to become part of the community until he has promised to mend his ways. It is not surprising that this Danish classic for children has seen a renaissance now in the 1990s, for it is one of the answers to the call we hear nowadays for books dealing with moral and ethical problems.
This article first appeared in Danish Literary
Magazine no 11, 1997.
