Into the Wild World

John Bauer

Watercolor, ink, gouache, and pencil on paper, including frame. Signed JB. Executed in 1907. Inscribed by the artist: "drawn 1907 in May John Bauer". PROVENANCE Consul General Erik Åkerlund (1877–1940), Stockholm, founder of the publishing house Åhlen & Åkerlund, publisher of, among others, "Bland Tomtar och Troll". Maja Sjöberg (1906–1934), née Åkerlund. Thence by descent to his son Rune Åkerlund. Private collection, Sweden. EXHIBITIONS Swedish Art Exhibition in Hamburg, Lübeck, and Berlin, 1926, cat. no. 26. Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, "John Bauer - Memorial Exhibition", 1934, cat. no. 65. Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm, "Trollbunden – John Bauer and the Magical Nature", 5 September 2020–23 May 2021, cat. no. 18. LITERATURE First published as a plate in "Julbocken 1907". Harald Schiller, "John Bauer Sagotecknaren", 1935, illustrated full-page in color, p. 97. Karin Sidén and Carina Rech (eds.), Trollbunden – John Bauer and the Magical Nature, 2020, illustrated p. 3 and listed in the catalogue under no. 18. "Christmas Magazine for Big and Small Children" - that is the text on the cover of "Julbocken", which was first published in 1907. In this magazine, "Into the Wild World" was published as a plate. In this watercolor, we encounter a motif that captures the feeling of longing, adventure, and standing before the unknown. The watercolor shows a young figure, perhaps a knight in the making, sitting on a large, stately white horse. The two stand on an elevated place, a mountain or cliff, looking out over a landscape. But the boy's gaze is not directed downwards, but up towards the three swans flying in the air. Could this be a harbinger of future events? In Nordic and Sami tradition, the swan has often been linked to inner and spiritual wisdom. During the same period, Bauer was also asked by Bonniers to illustrate "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils", where the goose Akka may have provided inspiration for the birds in "Into the Wild World". "Into the Wild World" has been reproduced countless times and is an image with strong recognition. Many may think that it is a work that was included in "Bland Tomtar och troll", but this is an example of an earlier collaboration between the publisher Erik Åkerlund and John Bauer. Åkerlund was also involved in publishing "Julbocken" and several other publications to which Bauer contributed before he received the assignment that would make him Sweden's fairy tale illustrator. The watercolor contains several details that show Bauer's strong impressions from his travels around Europe. His German heritage and the trips he made in Germany can be seen in the boy's medieval clothes - the hood and the pointed shoes; poulaines. The patterns on the horse's bridle and the sword scabbard also echo a bygone era. The red ribbons with gold details on the horse might bring to mind a straw goat with its red ribbons or a gift of some kind. Apart from this, there is not much that leads the viewer to the Christmas season. At the beginning of the collaboration with John Bauer, the publisher Erik Åkerlund had the condition of keeping the original works, which resulted in an extensive collection of over 40 watercolors and paintings. When Åkerlund began building Villa Lyngsåsa on Dalarö in the 1920s, he had Gustaf Magnusson execute a larger fresco copy of "Into the Wild World" in the entrance hall, which was later recreated in his home in Diplomatstaden. The present work can be interpreted as an image of growing up. To go "out into the wide world" is not just about a physical journey, but also about inner development. In December 1906, John Bauer married his Ester Ellqvist after a relationship that began during their studies at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts. The new situation they both faced may have been just the feeling of standing and looking out over the unknown. The years before the marriage had been characterized for Bauer by anxiety and self-doubt about being able to support them both, and their correspondence shows an artist who doubts and falls into deep melancholy, as Bauer's biographer Harald Schiller calls the dark periods in Bauer's life. But it is as "Into the Wild World" shows - it is in the unknown, that which lies before us - the light, that we must strive towards. After his marriage to Ellqvist, Bauer changed Swedish art history, and even today it is his fairy tale world that we like to disappear into. Through his unique style and sense for the magic of the fairy tale, John Bauer manages to create an image that still touches and inspires.