© Martin Olsson, 2011

Jean Dubuffet, James Thurber, EWK, Lehån, David McKee, George Grosz, Maurice Sine, Andre Francois and Mel Calman.

A bunch of heroes of mine, cartoonists and painters with simple line work and strong narrative in common. As will be clear to the attentive reader, these guys are all "old school" and childhood idols of mine, apart from Dubuffet, who I learned about in the last few years.

All of these artists make me smile, and make me feel assured as to the strength inherent in simple line drawing. Their childlike images often hides sharp or even poisonous satire, a paradox that I always find amusing. I have mellowed considerably with the years, and use my own line for harmless, benign images. To make people smile is enough for me.

I've found that making a cartoon less "pointy" can add width, and general usefulness of the drawing. Let me take an example. I once worked in a factory that made a lot of people redundant. Many of my colleagues, who often said they hated their job, dreaded the prospect of being made redundant, even if they in many cases were presented with redundancy money. What shall I do if don't work? many asked themselves. There was a quiet panic on the section "Please don't let it be me", so I made a drawing to illustrate my take on this feeling. Thus I drew "Laid Off Guy". Just a dude in a blue overall drinking a cup of tea. Then I let the viewer "fill in" the rather neutral cartoon with whatever their associations are. I give a hint in the title of course, but the expression in the image is deliberately held down. Sometimes I work in the entirely opposite way, and enjoy being pointy, prickly and preachy. But there it is. 

A surprising consequence of having this very drawing exhibited in a local art gallery has been that some children in my daughter's school chose that drawing as their favourite. Perhaps the simple straightforward presentation made them think "Wow, even I can do that."  I remember this being an aspect of established illustration that attracted me when I was young. If it was too realistic, or fancy, well then I couldn't emulate, (or copy!) these drawings. But if they were simple, I could achieve a similar result. That was exciting!

Jean Dubuffet (1901-1984) is really funny. His paintings are crude, blunt, vulgar at times, and beautifully conceived. Quite like Duchamp, exhibiting the famous urinal as a work of art called "Fountain", Dubuffet shows me what is ALSO art. He gets rid of "normal" subtlety and presents a new ugly, funny subtlety. He was also instrumental in widening the concept of art to the hinterland of the acceptable, by including all those that produced "Art Brut" or "Outsider Art".

James Thurber (1894-1961) was almost blind. Lost an eye as a child, and with his remaining, very weak eye drew some of the funniest men and women ever to appear in cartoons. He was an author of wonderful humorous stories, with a despairingly cynical and satirical edge. His philosophical probing into the human psyche I find so amusing and sobering. But particularly I'm bewitched by his drawings. They're so nonchalantly elegant, and most probably drawn in less than two minutes. There's a story from when he worked for The New Yorker magazine where his cartoons appeared, and one day he happened to answer the phone. It was a disgruntled reader who, not knowing to whom he was speaking, complained bitterly about the low standard of the cartoons by this "Mr. Thurber" that kept appearing in the magazine. "He's dreadful" said the man, " a third rate artist!" Thurber answered laconically "More like fifth rate, I'd say."

EWK (Ewert Karlsson) (1918-2004)  was a son of a swedish farmer who became a world famous cartoonist. He specialized in caricatures of the world's leaders, and very poignant political cartoons on issues such as the swedish political landscape but also such international topics as nuclear power, wars, pollution and the suffering in the third world. With pen and ink he conducted a scratchy, slow, slow line, immensely powerful. Black and white most of the time. The Primus Inter Pares as swedish political cartoonists are concerned.

Lehån (Lars Erik Håkansson) (1937-)  a swedish cartoonist with a very distinctive, hyper simple style, men and women with big noses. Black and white, predominantly. Often appeared in books and magazines when I grew up, and the only artist on this page I have had the immense pleasure of actually meeting! Also a deceptively childish style, often hiding sharp wit or cynicism.

David McKee, (1935-) the creator of Mr. Benn, King Rollo and of course Elmer The Patch Work Elephant. He confesses himself to be deeply influenced by Paul Klee, and this shows in his work. Wobbly lines, imperfect colouring, blotchy at times, but phenomenally powerful and so appealing to children, me included. His manner of filling the pages, Oh I could have any of his illustrations as giant posters on my walls. A firm believer in the strength of flatness. Flat colours, flat illustrative planes, like a child would do it. Often a bird's eye perspective, with several viewpoints at once. So sometimes some of the little men in a cityscape walks upside down, for instance. Everything works, if you approach it like a child would do. "Not Now, Bernard" must be rated as one of the most stylish children's' books I have ever seen.

George Grosz, (1893-1959) an acerbic, anti-war, left-wing, hateful communist and one of my earliest idols. A dadaist, started his activity after the first world war, he produced incredibly strong cartoons and illustrations criticizing the war and the bourgeois establishment in it's wake. Scratchy lines, ruthless caricatures and politically highly charged . Often nicely coloured in watercolour, funnily enough. The Dada Movement gave me my first sense of belonging as far as "proper" art movements were concerned. Picabia, Arp, Tzara and Schwitters too left a deep impression on the young Martin Olsson. Not to forget Duchamp's urinal and Mona Lisa postcard, oh sweet mercy what fun could be had with art! 

Not a million miles away from Herr Grosz, we find the angry frenchman Maurice Sine, (1928-). Simple lines, very childish looking but with a tremendous impact. A lover of cats, but hater of organised religion, and very politically active in the cartoonist sense, his pen is his soapbox. Controversial is too weak a word, but in his polemic vein he does what cartoonists have done since time immemorial, challenge the establishment and in the process acting as a catalyst in drawing out people in "for" and "against" whatever political and religious issues he takes up and dissects. One of those guys on the barricades, showing how effective the simple black and white ink line can be, still in this technological age. I get tempted to return to the barricades myself when I see Sine's work, but each time inertia gets the better of me.

Andre Francois (Farkas) (1915-2005) Now there's another nonchalant fellow who hits the head on the nail. In his sometimes untrained-looking style I feel there is tremendous power, and Andre Francois is someone who shows just how simple it needs to be to work. A more elaborated style than that some of my other "house-gods" but still a very "analogue" style. Rich but uncomplicated, an "honest" style. Bold painting, crude figures, but with a lot of "Oomph".

Mel Calman, (1931-1994)  A "modern" in this group, and again, just like Thurber a master of a nihilistically simplified style. Sometimes it looks like Calman draws with a crayon. Crayon! Political satire in the single panel format, or comments on life itself or human nature. The readability of such bare naked lines travels with the speed of light, and Calman's style is like shorthand for the thought, the comment, the idea. All unnecessary ballast jettisoned, hey ho. But boy does it work! 

Feel free to look these gentle giants up on that world wide web out there, folks.