Nordqvist Sven
Sven Nordqvist was born in a small town in 1946. He grew up in an ordinary family, received an art and architectural education, and began his creative path in literature by illustrating other people's books. And Findus and Petson appeared precisely because the artist wanted to illustrate his world, and not carry out the line of another author. So, in 1984, the first book was published, it was “Birthday Cake”. Initially, the writer had the idea to create a story about two absent-minded old men who were always losing everything, but for the sake of greater narrative dynamics, a kitten-child appeared instead of one of the old men. There are no specific prototypes for these characters, but Nordkvist says that he has known many cats and old people in his life who behaved exactly like this.
In total, 10 full-fledged stories were published in the series, the last one - “Findus Moves” - in 2012, and then the author announced that he was tired of these heroes, and no more books would be published about them. Well, over the past 10 years, stories about them have really not appeared anymore, but many calendars, songbooks, board books for kids, activity books and merch have been published.
Nurdqvist has other good books, where he is the author and illustrator. For example, "Christmas Porridge" appeared even earlier than most books about Findus. And the book project "Where is my sister?" was incubated for a long time, it was conceived as a picture book in which there would be little text and it would be secondary. But is it? Are these non-childish children's poems really so secondary? This book is about the huge world and our place in it, about dreams and about nature, the book is a parting word for life. The illustrations are truly beautiful, they are both large-scale and very detailed. I really want to step into a book and, together with the little rats, comprehend this wonderful world and look for myself in it. Nordqvist mentions being influenced by Lewis Carroll and Maurits Escher. But we advise all lovers of the Nordkvist style (especially fans of “Where is My Sister?”) to find paintings by contemporary Polish artist Jacek Jerka on the Internet - you will most likely like it. And be sure to show your children Yerka’s work! The picture book “Walk” is also very similar, but it has no text at all.
But the artist had a chance to work not only on children’s books - he also illustrated for adults, drew advertisements, and participated a lot in various non-commercial projects. In Moscow, at the children's medical center for children with cancer, one of the halls is painted according to his sketch (yes, Nurdqvist is aware, he was directly involved).
Having had enough of his time, Nordqvist again began to illustrate books by other authors: “Mama Mu” and various children’s educational books on mathematics, philosophy, and history. And although he continues to work to this day, we can probably say that it is Findus and Petson who are the artist’s main project.
Besides work, there are other joys in his life: a wife and two adult sons, one of whom is also an artist. While the children were small, the family lived in the countryside, in a house similar to Petson’s. And when the children grew up, everyone moved to Stockholm. Here Nordqvist, a big lover of architecture, loves to walk around the city and look at the buildings. And he, like Petson, loves carpentry and inventing all sorts of things. In Sweden there is the Petsona farm, a small landscaped area built with the participation of Nordqvist, who made furniture and tools for the house with his own hands. The artist says that he loves such things even more than drawing.
At all events and interviews, Sven Nordqvist looks modest, shy, even as if insecure as a man who accidentally ended up here, when he would prefer to sit in his workshop and do what he loves. He is such a talented and versatile person, but completely non-public, as he himself admits.
And finally, the main question from readers: SO WHO ARE THE MUKLES?! Maybe secret agents??
- Well, what are you talking about, - the author answers the fans, - mukles are just mukles, you can sometimes hear someone knocking and scratching behind the wall, that’s it mukles. But there are no secret agents these days.
