Kalle “Xylografen” Andersson

Karl Johan (Kalle) Andersson (Sweden, 1853–1942) was a Swedish xylographer and painter. After completing schooling at the School of Crafts and the Art Academy's principle school, Andersson was employed as a xylographer at Ny illustrared tidning. After he was awarded a scholarship from the College of Commerce, he undertook a study trip to Paris in 1883–1884. When he returned to Sweden, he resumed his work as a freelance xylographer, but when the modern chemigraphic reproduction methods took hold, his profession became redundant. He moved to Grisslehamn in 1892 where he got to know Albert Engström, who later made Andersson nationally known through his stories and drawings of the Xylograph, including in the book Yxlografen, Ett portret i 10 lithographier, which was published in 1923. Andersson is represented at, among others, the National Museum in Stockholm. Among Andersson's most important works are the woodcuts of Nordenskiöld's ship "Vega" during the Vega expedition in the years 1878–80 and Carl Larsson's illustrations for Anna Maria Lenngren's Collected Poetical Attempts in 1884. Andersson's own activity as an artist consists of a mass production of oil paintings with landscapes and nude studies as well as some portraits.