Illustrated Stories on Display: How Exhibitions Speak

This seminar series explores exhibitions as rhetorical arenas where images and illustrations tell stories. Scholars and curators show how visual narratives persuade, move, and invite audiences into dialogue.

Everyday Enchantment

The exhibition at the Zorn Museum (1.12.2024-9.3.2025) revealed the imaginative worlds of Elsa Beskow, the celebrated Swedish artist and children’s book author. From the late 19th century into the 20th, Beskow shaped Swedish children’s culture through beloved stories such as The Tomtebobarnen, The Tale of the Little, Little Old Woman, and the adventures of Aunt Green, Aunt Brown, and Aunt Lavender. Her illustrations and tales, together with Alice Tegnér’s songs, continue to enchant generations of children. Visitors were invited to wander among original works borrowed from museums and private collections, including her iconic illustrations for Mors lilla Olle.

Petra Bäni Rigler, dr,. as the scholarly advisor of the exhibition, reflects on the process of bringing Beskow’s stories to life in a gallery setting. In her 2019 dissertation, Bilderbuch – Lesebuch – Künstlerbuch. Elsa Beskows Ästhetik des Materiellen, she explored how Beskow’s picture books promoted children’s reading and writing while embodying a distinctive early 20th-century female artistic style. Drawing on literary didactics, materiality research, and art-historical contextualization, she illuminates the layers of meaning in Beskow’s work and its lasting influence on children’s literature.