In the basement

"Kungsörn" (Golden Eagle), poster by Nils Tirén, 1932

Jens Wahlstedt is a former director of the Swedish branch of the WWF. He is also something of a super-nerd. The object of his collector´s mania? (Or in this case, photography mania.) Old Swedish educational posters used in public school during his childhood (the 1950´s) or earlier. Wahlstedt has published three books about this topic. The one I found in a used book store earlier today is titled "Djur och natur på skolplanscher" and was published in 2007. 

Colorful posters were a necessary teaching aid in a time before TV and Internet, likewise a time when most books only had black-and-white photos. In Sweden, everyone above a certain age remember the school posters from their childhood, but many have been literally destroyed (including the originals) by the publishers, since no school wants them anymore. Wahlstedt managed to find many rare specimens by talking to old janitors who still kept old posters in the basements (or bomb shelters!) of school buildings. 

What surprised me when looking through the book was the high artistic quality of many school posters. Indeed, some "real" painters were occasionally commissioned to produce educational posters of this kind, including Bruno Liljefors and Nils Kreuger. Nils Tirén seems to be an example of a perennial poster painter who might as well have been a "serious" painter. His bird paintings are particularly good. Strangely, some of the best illustrations of Swedish animals are German imports, made by the otherwise unknown painter "KW". 

My main problem with this work is the nature romanticism of the author. While he is critical of some school posters and text books for idealizing 19th century and early 20th century peasant life (including the "Sörgården" motif), he has a romantic view himself of nature and wildlife, including the wolf. I never understood the bizarre obsession of mainstream environmentalists to "save the wolf" (really let it spread all across Sweden) and their constant attacks on everyone who "demonizes" this splendid animal. I think a non-idealized peasant might have a few things to tell these urban upper middle class conservationists about the necessity of "wolf hatred"!

The author also complains about the widespread draining of wetlands during the 19th century, since this led to the extinction (in Sweden, that is) of the stork. Of course, it also made it possible for Sweden to modernize its agriculture. Last time I looked, stork colonies were still thriving at select cathedrals in Spain...

That being said, I concede that many of these posters should hang at an art museum rather than in an old public school basement! 

Interesting book. Perhaps collector´s item?