Hans Arnold Brand presentation

Growing up with nuns, hell and filthy stories

Hans Arnold (1925-2010) was a Swiss-Swedish artist and illustrator. He grew up in a very strict and conservative Catholic area in Sursee, Switzerland. Arnold later stated that his upbringing was the reason of his obsession with horror, fairytales and beautiful women. He said: ”My sister adored nuns and dragged me to the Catholic church. Mother was a protestant and dragged me to the Protestant church. My grandfather was a train driver and took me to the pub. In church I learned all about hell, at the pub I learned all about beer, swearing and telling filthy stories”

Having finished art school in Luzern and traveling Europe, Arnold finally setled in Stockholm, Sweden. Working as an illustrator for magazines, papers and children’s books for several years, he got his big breakthrough as the ”master of horror” while illustrating short stories known as ”Veckans chock” in the women’s magazine Veckorevyn 1954-1979.

Work: monsters, fairytales and prety scary girls

Following ”Veckans chock”, Hans Arnold became a household name.

His tpical stle was making everyday items appear ghostlike and scary. Te children in his illustrations were sweet and innocent while the images of women were more risqué. His illustrations are extremely detailed with clear strikes of surrealism. He has been compared to a ”Swedish Salvador Dali”.

Along side childrens’ book illustrations he is well known for ABBA’s iconic Greatest hits cover and he also made a name a name for himself in animation, TV vignetes, opera, theatre and TV scenographics.

Books, magazines, pop and classic culture

Arnold’s illustrations of Astrid Lindgren’s "Allrakäraste syster”, alongside ”Bland tomtar och troll”, are just a few examples of his many children’s book illustrations. ”Monstret som valp” is Arnold’s own self biography told in picture book format.

For the short story series in VeckoRevyn ”Veckans chock”, he created over 250 illustrations between 1954 and 1979.

ABBA’s fold out cover for their Greatest hits album is a classic.

DNA: Horror Fantasy Surrealism Art

Artbank samples

Te Hans Arnold artbank is available via Rights & Brands. Te art bank contains black and white and color illustrations ranging from horror and mystery to fantasy and fairytales.

Te artbank is a work in progress in total there are over 2000 illustrations available from Hans Arnold. Images may be added on request.

Brand artwork examples

Innovedia summer event

Animation & film references

Matulda och Megasen was a children’s animation, based on the book series with the same name, created by Hans Arnold and Vera Nordin.

Matulda och Megasen on Youtube (unofcial upload)

Animation & film references

More about the life of Hans Arnold is in the biography feature film ”Hans Arnold, Penselns häxmästare”. Te film is available for streaming in full length on SVTPlay SF anytime, iTunes and Google Play. Film trailer

Niklas Österling

Category

niklas.osterlingr@rightsandbrands.com www.rightsandbrands.com