Olaf Gulbransson

Olaf Gulbransson was born in Christiana (later: Oslo), Norway in 1873 as the son of a book printer. He became a caricaturist and his work was published in several norwegian satirical magazines, such as Pluk, Tyrihans, Trangviksposten, Paletten and Fluesoppen from 1890. In 1896, magazine Simplicissimus was founded by Albert Langen and Thomas Theodor Heine, and Gulbransson became one of its most important contributors. He married a year later and had two daughters. In 1900, he traveled to Paris to study at the Academy Cola Rossi. His work was exhibited on several occasions. Olaf Gulbransson moved to München, Germany in 1906. He divorced, and remarried Grete Jehly, daughter of painter Jakob Jehly, with whom he had a son.

In 1916, he was drafted into the military, but soon he was placed in the department of propaganda in Berlin, where he became a member of the Arts Academy. In 1922, he divorced again and remarried a year later with Dagny Björnson, niece of the norwegian poet Björnstierne Björnson.

He became professor at the State Art School in München and his work was exhibited on several occasions and published in numerous newspapers, such as Tidens Tegn. In 1933, the Art Academy in Berlin held an exhibition in honor of his 65th birthday, but it was closed two days after it opened, ordered by the leader of the NSDAP. Despite this, he remained a celebrated artist until his death on 18 September 1958, at the age of 86.