Louis Maria Niels Peder Moe (April 20,1857 – October 23, 1945) was a versatile and prolific illustrator, graphic designer, painter, draftsman, cartoonist, sculptor, and author. He was born in Tromøy, Ardenal, Norway. His parents were Halvor Georg Theodor Moe (1826-1877) and Hansine Constance Halling (1823-1913). Moe moved to Copenhagen in 1875 and began studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1876. He became a Danish citizen in 1919 and is buried in Garnisons Cemetery in Copenhagen.
During his lifetime, Moe was best known for his illustrations of children’s nursery rhymes and H.C. Andersen stories, and for his mythological illustrations for S. Tvermose Thyregod’s Oldemoders Fortælling om Nordens Guder (1890) and historical illustrations for Frederik Winkel Horn’s Saxo Grammaticus: Danmarks Krønike (1898). He also wrote, illustrated, and published a series of children’s stories, Moes billedbøger, as well as other adventure stories for children. Moe was talented at drawing animals and he is now sometimes referred to as Denmark’s Walt Disney (Hagemann 85).
Moe’s work included adult-orientated illustrations that are receiving increasing attention in the present day, such as his erotic etchings and lithographs that feature naked female figures in the company of mythical creatures and animals, as well as works with elements of death, decadence and destruction that were a trend in the art and culture of his day. A sales catalogue, by his graphics publisher Vilhelm Tryde Copenhagen, Fortegnelse over Louis Moe's grafiske arbeider (1924) provides an overview of his graphic work up to 1924. Moe is also currently credited as an early graphic novelist due to his illustrated publications with minimal text, e.g., Ragnarok (1929).
Works Cited and Consulted
Eros, mystikk og eventyr - Louis Moe og hans kunst. https://vineta.no/eros-mystikk-og-eventyr-louis-moe-og-hans-kunst/ Accessed 26 Apr. 2017.
Hagemann, Sonja: De tegnet for barna. Norske kunstneres illustrasjoner i bøker for barn. Tiden, 1986.
Schütze, Rolf. Louis Moe 1857-1945 og hans kunst. Hagerup, 1949.
Stanly Books. “Louis Moe versus Walt Disney.” 21 December, 2014.
http://stanlybooks.blogspot.ca/2014/12/louis-moe-versus-walt-disney.html?view=magazine.Accessed 26 Apr. 2017.
Thyregod, S. Tvermose. Oldemoders Fortælling om Nordens Guder. Ernst Bojesens Kunstforlag, 1890.
http://www.nb.no/nbsok/nb/b4f2c785fe2611ec7d5d3e19a974c005?lang=no#0
Accessed 26 Apr. 2017
Moe, Louis. Fortegnelse over Louis Moe's grafiske arbejder. Vilhelm Tryde, 1924. https://vineta.no/. Accessed 26 April, 2017.
Permalink: https://vault.library.uvic.ca/collections/2bb69c62-447d-4cea-9e4b-0f713eaeb813
Works (2)
Title | Date Created | Date Added | Visibility | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Valkyrien: romantisk billeddigtning. This work also belongs to: Norse Mythology Collection |
1931 | 2020-01-22 | Public | |
Valkyrien: Editor's Note (March 2017) This work also belongs to: Norse Mythology Collection |
2017-03 | 2020-01-22 | Public |