The satirical press

From the second half of the nineteenth century, satirical magazines were the home of Norwegian satire. At the time, newspapers focused more on opinion pieces, while magazines were the go-to for a laugh. The first Norwegian satire magazines were Krydseren (1849–1854) and Andhrimner (1851). However, it was only in 1862 when Vikingen (1862–1932) was launched that Norway got a magazine which established itself as a permanent home for the satirical cartoon. The turn of the twentieth century became a golden era for the Norwegian satirical press, in which both Blix and Gulbransson were important figures. Both were hired at a young age by the influential satirical magazine Tyrihans (1881−1958), and they were also important contributors to the satirical Christmas publication Fluesoppen (1901, 1902, 1908 and 1911). This work became a springboard for their subsequent careers. More than once, Gulbransson paved the way for them both, and when he resigned as chief editor of Tyrihans in 1902, Blix took over.

Credits:

Fluesoppen. Kristiania: Feilberg & Landmark / Jacob Dybwad, 1908. (Replica) 

Fluesoppen. Kristiania: Feilberg & Landmark / Jacob Dybwad, 1902. (Replica) 

Tyrihans, 11 July 1902, Olaf Gulbransson, printed in J. Chr. Gundersens bogtrykkeri. (Replica) 

Tyrihans, 10 April 1903, Ragnvald Blix, printed in J. Chr. Gundersens bogtrykkeri. (Replica) 

Tyrihans, 17 April 1903, Ragnvald Blix, printed in J. Chr. Gundersens bogtrykkeri. (Replica) 

Trangviksposten: ny aargang, 1901. Jacob Hildrich. Illustration: Olaf Gulbransson. Kristiania: Aschehoug. (Replica) 

Trangviksposten: ny aargang, 1901. Jacob Hildrich. Illustration: Olaf Gulbransson. Kristiania: Aschehoug. (Replica) 

Hvepsen, Arbeider-magasinet 1932, no. 12. (volume 26). Illustration: Olaf Gulbransson for Simplicissimus. (Replica) 

Hvepsen, Arbeider-magasinet 1932, no. 5 (volume 26). Illustration: Olaf Gulbransson for Simplicissimus. (Replica)

From Trangvik to Munich

1899 was a breakthrough year for Gulbransson. This was when he started drawing for Trangviksposten, a parody of a local newspaper that came as a supplement to Aftenposten. This newspaper parody became hugely popular and was subsequently released in book form.

The same year, Gulbransson held his first separate exhibition in Kristiania. “He may call them caricatures. But to me, they seem like sheer reality. Actual reality …”, wrote Dagbladet’s Gunnar Heiberg.

The caricatures became so popular that Gulbransson published them in the book titled 24 Karikaturer (“24 Caricatures”, 1901). In it we find depictions of e.g. Henrik Ibsen, with a stern look and many broad pen strokes. Only a few years later, he would draw Ibsen again, but then in a new, far more minimalistic style.

Gulbransson was an avid letter writer and often decorated his letters with drawings. One of those he both satirised and corresponded with was theatre critic Sigurd Bødtker. In this correspondence, Bødtker himself gives suggestions as to how his moustache can be drawn to make the caricature even more accurate. In one letter, Gulbransson suggests they can both start using block letters, which he did, and continued with for the remainder of his career. It became one of his trademarks.

Credits:

Olaf Gulbransson: “Henrik Ibsen” (place and year unknown). 

Letter from Olaf Gulbransson to Sigurd Bødtker (letter collection: 1873–1958). 

Olaf Gulbransson: “Bødtker” in 24 karikaturer. Kristiania: Nordli / Nikolai Olsens Bogtrykkeri, 1901. 

Satirical stunts

In 1904, 22-year-old Blix inherited a significant amount of money from his uncle. This enabled him to embark on a formative trip around Europe. First he went to Copenhagen, where he held his first separate exhibition and published the book Nordiske forfattere (“Nordic Authors”), a collection of resonant caricatures of the literary stars of the era. Not everyone was happy. Later, the Danish author Agnes Henningsen wrote: “He didn’t even let me keep my gender.”

Blix continued to Paris, where he moved in the same circles as Edvard Munch and Oda and Christian Krohg. During a visit to the Louvre Museum together with painter Ludvig Karsten, he suddenly had the idea of drawing caricatures of the great artworks on display. Mona Lisa was recreated as an old crone, and Raphael’s Sistine Madonna was drawn in a naïve style with angels picking their nose. He exhibited the drawings in Paris, where they received much notoriety. One French newspaper wrote: “Here comes a Viking from the high north and vandalises our galleries, and what do we do? We’re dying of laughter.” The American author Mark Twain was so taken by Blix’s Mona Lisa that he invited him to come to the United States and recommended him to the renowned German satire magazine Simplicissimus.

Credits:

Ragnvald Blix: “Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson” in Karikaturer – Nordiske Forfattere. Copenhagen: Winkel & Magnussens kunsthandel & Forlag, 1904. 

Ragnvald Blix: “Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson”, original cartoon (year unknown). 

Ragnvald Blix: Nordiske Forfattere. Copenhagen: Winkel & Magnussens kunsthandel & Forlag, 1904 (4th printing). 

Ragnvald Blix: “Old masters II: Leonardo da Vinci – 

Mona Lisa” in unknown Swedish newspaper (year unknown). 

Ragnvald Blix: “Old masters IV: Raphael” in unknown Swedish newspaper (year unknown). 

Caricature

The word “caricature” has its origins in Italian and means “overloaded.” This refers to the caricature as a charged and exaggerated version of something real. With the development of the woodcut and book printing in Europe in the fifteenth century, drawings could suddenly be spread much further.

Before photography was developed in the nineteenth century, caricature drawings also served an informative function: they allowed people to learn how politicians and other power figures looked and were perceived. Understanding the drawings did not require literacy.

Ragnvald Blix and Olaf Gulbransson both grew up in the golden age of the satirical cartoon and were influential in shaping the genre early on in their careers. Both launched their careers with book collections: Gulbransson with 24 Karikaturer in 1901 and Blix with Nordiske forfattere in 1904.

Credits:

Olaf Gulbransson: 24 karikaturer. Kristiania: Nordli, 1901. 

Ragnvald Blix: Le voile tombe: caricatures. Paris: Librairie Nilsson, 1908. 

Simple times

In 1902, Gulbransson was headhunted by the well-known German satire magazine Simplicissimus. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson had mentioned him to his son-in-law, Albert Langen, who was chief editor at the time.

Gulbransson was sent along on a German language course in Berlin, but was a slow learner, which he made a point out of in one of his drawings. Without any knowledge of German, he arrived in Munich in December 1902. The editorial team were not impressed, describing him as “a Norwegian Norseman from Norway” to emphasise how provincial he appeared. However, they soon had to retract their words, as Gulbransson adopted a minimalistic, modern style that quickly made an impact on his colleagues and readers. In July 1903, he had his first front cover printed – a joke about the papal conclave. He went on to produce around 200 front cover illustrations throughout his 42-year-long career at the magazine. Often, Gulbransson did not think of the satirical points himself, but illustrated those of the editorial team. For example, in 1904 he illustrated one of the sharp poems of Ludwig Thoma, published under a pseudonym. While he avoided prosecution himself, Thoma was sentenced to six months in prison as a result.

Credits:

“Before the papal conclave. Your Eminence, may I escort you to the table? ‘Impossible, I have no antidote with me today’”, 

Olaf Gulbransson in Simplicissimus. Munich, 4 May 1903 (volume 8, issue 18). 

“The world’s strongest man breaks down under the weight of the Olympic medals awarded in Amsterdam”, 

Olaf Gulbransson in Simplicissimus. Munich, 27 August 1928 (volume 33, issue 22). 

Olaf Gulbransson: “Olaf trying to learn German”, watercolour on paper (place and year unknown). 

“To the morality preachers in Cologne on the Rhine”, Olaf Gulbransson in Beiblatt des Simplicissimus. 

Munich, 25 October 1904 (volume 9, issue 31). 

“Disarmament. Since no country can make up their mind to start disarmament, the animal kingdom decides to set a good example”, Olaf Gulbransson in Simplicissimus. 

Munich, 1 December 1930 (volume 35, issue 36). 

From apprentice to master

After having satirised famous artworks at the Louvre Museum, Blix became a sought-after young cartoonist. The team at Simplicissimus wanted him as a regular contributor. Blix seized the opportunity, and in 1908 there were two Norwegians working for one of Europe’s most popular satire magazines: Gulbransson and Blix.

At Simplicissimus, Blix developed his unique style – notably with a strong ability to interpret the volatile global situation. When he finally landed his own front cover, a drawing of a sickly Czar Nicholas II, four years after starting, the magazine was banned in Russia. However, from the Simplicissimus team he garnered praise and recognition.

At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Simplicissimus went from being a pacifist satirical magazine to become a German war trumpet. Satire was dulled down, nationalism sharpened. In 1917, Blix was asked to draw “Deutscher Michel”, a personification of the German state. Michel was to be depicted on the verge of reaching a summit, symbolising the end of the war. Blix, who lacked faith that Germany could win the war, drew the mountaintop as unattainable. “The cartoon roused a feeling of consternation among the team, but there was no time to create a new cartoon, and the magazine could not go into print with a blank front cover. Never, neither before nor since, have I had less success with any cartoon,” wrote Blix in his personal recollections of the events.

Credits:

“Near the goal. Hold on, Michel, and just a little bit more!”, Ragnvald Blix in Simplicissimus. Munich, 12 February 1918 (volume 22, issue 46). 

“Death in Flanders. ‘People, stop – I can’t take it anymore!’”, Ragnvald Blix in Simplicissimus. Munich, 19 June 1917 (volume 22, issue 12). 

Ragnvald Blix: “Some recollections: draft” (undated) for 

the book Blix – en kavalkade gjennom 50 år, 1952, main editor Sigurd Hoel. Oslo: Dreyers Forlag. 

“The sickly czarevitch. ‘What do you want here? I believe I have given you enough to do in the Balkans’”, Ragnvald Blix in Simplicissimus. Munich, 18 November 1912 (volume 17, issue 34). 

Simplicissimus

(1896-1944. Relaunched in 1954. Final issue in 1967.)

Simplicissimus was founded in 1896 in Munich by publisher Albert Langen. It quickly became Germany’s most prominent satire magazine, with weekly issues up until the autumn of 1944. The magazine reached far beyond Germany’s borders and had a large Norwegian readership as well, as German was the most widespread foreign language among Norwegians. Culturally, Simplicissimus had close ties to Norway. Theodor Kittelsen was the first Norwegian to draw for the magazine, and Knut Hamsun contributed with texts. When Langen married Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson’s youngest daughter, the link to Norway became even stronger.

Early on, Langen hired Thomas Theodor Heine as a regular cartoonist. With Heine, the magazine soared in popularity, and he was also the creator of the logo: a fiery red bulldog that has bitten its chain collar off in rage. This illustrated the magazine’s mission of being a fearless watchdog beyond anyone’s control.

At Tidens Tegn

Interwar Germany was a tough place to be. While Norwegian newspapers saw prosperity, Simplicissimus struggled financially. In 1923, Gulbransson married his third wife, the 28-years-younger Dagny Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson’s granddaughter.

Gulbransson was hired by the Oslo newspaper Tidens Tegn. He chose his own political topics for his front-page illustrations. Therefore, Gulbransson’s works from his time at Tidens Tegn say a lot about his own views and political interests. Many of these front-page illustrations are reminiscent of cartoon strips. This style shows hints of his later books of personal recollections, Det var engang (“Once Upon a Time”, 1934) and Und so weiter (“And So Forth”, 1954).

As much as the family enjoyed living in Norway, Gulbransson repeatedly received job offers from Berlin and Munich. When the couple travelled to Munich to celebrate their colleague Heine’s sixtieth birthday in 1927, Gulbransson agreed to stay. He was offered a professorship at Akademie der Bildenden Künste München (the Academy of Fine Arts Munich) and resumed drawing for Simplicissimus.

Credits:

Photographer unknown: Olaf Gulbransson and Dagny Bjørnson Gulbransson (place and year unknown). 

Olaf Gulbransson: Original cartoon, pencil on paper. 

“Olaf Gulbransson and his wife Dagny in car” (year unknown). 

Photographer unknown: Dagny and Olaf Gulbransson together with an unidentified man. Deutsches Theater, Germany (year unknown). 

Olaf Gulbransson: “Will the grain monopoly bring down the government?” in Tidens Tegn. 30 January 1926. 

Olaf Gulbransson: “History of skiing” in Tidens Tegn. 5 March 1927. 

Exlex

After the First World War, Blix left Simplicissimus and returned to Norway. This was because he had received funding to start a new Nordic satire magazine. The magazine was named Exlex (“Lawless”), and the first issue was printed in as many as 25,000 copies. It soon became clear that Blix’s ambitions for Exlex were too high, and after only two years, the satire magazine was closed down.

In the interwar years, the popularity of satire magazines was waning, and cartoonists found a new home in newspapers. Blix realised he needed to transition to the daily press, and began drawing for the Norwegian newspaper Tidens Tegn. Eventually, he signed a co-publishing agreement with the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende, Sweden’s Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning and Norway’s Dagbladet, where his childhood friend Einar Skavlan was now chief editor. The three newspapers began publishing the same Blix cartoon weekly. In this way, Blix’s political cartoon commentary was spread across the whole of Scandinavia.

Newspaper cartoons

In the twentieth century, new, more cost-effective printing techniques were introduced in newspaper production. This allowed for thicker newspapers and the printing of more photos. While previously the newspapers had largely published political viewpoints, news reports now began to occupy more and more column space. At the same time, the daily newspapers took over many of the niche areas of satirical magazines, such as humour pages, fiction and satirical cartoons. Political cartoon commentary fit beautifully into the press’s new emphasis on current affairs. The cartoons often received a prominent place on the front pages, where they worked well as effective eye-catchers. As satirical magazines disappeared one after the other, new newspapers stood poised to print Gulbransson and Blix’s cartoons. Both Dagbladet and Tidens Tegn published commentary on domestic and international politics in the 1920s, thereby playing a part in making “newspaper cartoonist” a reputable profession and giving the cartoons themselves an uncontested position on the newspaper pages.

From wild watchdog to rigid training

When Gulbransson returned to Munich in 1927, there was an economic upswing in Germany. But what went up would come down – violently – and in 1929 came the great Wall Street crash. With the times so turbulent, Simplicissimus never lacked macropolitical material to write about. Neither did Gulbransson shy away from mocking Hitler. In a drawing from 1929, he drew the rising dictator as a small Germanic goddess dancing submissively around “Italy’s strongman”, Benito Mussolini.

When Hitler seized power in Germany in January 1933, the magazine quickly had an unfavourable encounter with the new authorities. The Nazis carried out a raid of the editorial offices and demanded that Simplicissimus either become regime-friendly or shut down their activity completely. While German-Jewish Heine had to flee to Czechoslovakia to avoid ending up in a concentration camp for his criticism of the regime, the rest of the editorial staff – including Gulbransson – chose to comply with the Nazis’ requirements. This marked the end of the era of the red bulldog’s bite.

An eye for Nazi-friendly Nasjonal Samling

Following the regime change in 1933, Simplicissimus became a mere shadow of its former self. Gone were the scathing attacks on politicians and German nobility; in came soft sketches of rather scantily clad women. The only ones who still had anything to fear from them were the German resistance. Once again, Gulbransson adapted his style and message. While he and the rest of the editorial staff published cartoons which were subject to Nazi censorship, their former colleague Heine was in exile in Prague.

Gulbransson, who had drawn a number of Hitler caricatures prior to 1933, now only drew the Führer once – and respectfully and realistically at that. In the cartoon, Hitler is looking out across Danzig (now called Gdańsk), which he had invaded earlier that month. Below the portrait, Gulbransson inserted a quote from Hitler’s ideological manifesto Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”, 1926).

On his seventieth birthday, Gulbransson was honoured with the Goethe Medal by Hitler. He also received the Norwegian Nazi-friendly Nasjonal Samling’s magazine Munin as a parcel, for which he sent a personal thanks in letter form. In the letter he wrote that he would have loved to draw Quisling, a “thunderous Norwegian Viking”.

Encounter with Hitler

Throughout the 1920s, Blix travelled widely in Europe. In 1922, he arrived in Munich and met with his former colleagues at Simplicissimus. When he noticed posters around the city advertising a rally with an Austrian radical, he became curious. He attended and became perhaps the first Norwegian to see Adolf Hitler speak. “He was no charmer. And he had no public speaking skills. The entire time, he stood there with his nose in his manuscript, reading aloud. Though at first I took him for being illiterate, that he was not.” Later that evening, when Blix met Heine at the editorial meeting at Simplicissimus, Heine is said to have asked what Hitler looked like, but quickly added that of course they could not concern themselves with such trivial matters.

After 1933, nobody saw Hitler as trivial. Blix did a lot to expose Europe’s new dictator. In the Nordic region, he had considerable freedom to comment on the new fascist streams in Europe, though his biting images were also noticed in the countries he criticised.

Illegal drawings

When Nazi Germany invaded Denmark and Norway, Blix fled from Copenhagen. He arrived in Sweden in May 1940, and asked chief editor Torgny Segerstedt at Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning if he could continue drawing for the newspaper. “Yes, but do not drive me to prison” was the reply.

In Sweden, refugees were not allowed to engage in politics during the war, so Blix needed a pseudonym. This would also help protect his family in the occupied Norway. He browsed through the obituaries and settled on the name Stig Höök. Although in the first few years he was not allowed to draw Hitler or Mussolini, he did what he could to tarnish the Nazis’ reputation during the war. Sweden carefully guarded its neutrality, and the government stopped any newspaper that was becoming too unbalanced.

Blix’s potent drawings also found their way to Norway. They were smuggled in and graced the front cover of the illegal newspaper Håndslag. This newspaper was printed in 15,000–20,000 copies per issue and became influential in the resistance movement. Heine, who had by now fled to Sweden, also had a drawing published on the front cover in August 1943. It showed Quisling in pyjamas with the Earth between his hands as he searched for somewhere he could flee.

Punching upwards

Criticism of power has always been a core trait of satire – it is meant to punch upwards. And although it sometimes punches to the side and even downwards, it is mainly politicians, heads of state and people with great influence who are caricatured. Then as now.

An effective caricature can shape public opinion and be hugely influential. Therefore, the degree of freedom given to the satirists is an effective gauge for a country’s freedom of speech and democracy. For example, Chinese authorities have put a stop to cartoons of Winnie-the-Pooh on the Internet, after the food-loving bear became a satirical symbol of Xi Jinping. In the United States, the president is constantly berating those who satirise him. As one of the most powerful people in the world, Donald Trump is a favourite subject for cartoonists, including in Norway. In 2017, under the title “Keiserens nye klær” (“The Emperor’s New Clothes”), Marvin Halleraker drew him as a naked monarch with his bottom and legs shaped like crossed fingers. The cartoon was inspired by Hyacinthe Rigaud’s portrait of Louis XIV.

Enemy pictures

One of the most powerful stylistic devices used in satire is ambivalence, and during wartime, ambivalence must often yield to clear rallying cries. It is easier to persuade public opinion when you have effective pictures of the enemy.

During the Second World War, Gulbransson created a wealth of cartoons portraying the Allied leaders in a less than flattering way. Winston Churchill was depicted as exhausted and overweight, Franklin D. Roosevelt as a weakling and Joseph Stalin as a tyrant controlling them both. During this time, the distinction between caricature and propaganda was completely erased at Simplicissimus. 

Ragnvald Blix, on the other hand, moved in a completely different direction when faced with the Nazis. Under the pseudonym Stig Höok, he drew Quisling and the Nazi leaders in sharp-witted ways, without mocking their physique. Höök’s cartoons were more focused on witty punchlines and did not have the same propaganda element as those of Gulbransson. 

In the lion’s den

Norway has a long-standing, strong tradition of satirising politicians and powerful figures. Although drawings of Norwegian politicians can be crass and unflattering, it has become a tradition at the Storting (Parliament) to display the ten best caricatures from the previous year in the corridor leading to the restaurant.

Consequently, many politicians are confronted every single day by a satirised version of themselves. The Storting’s art collection also purchases many of the works and has acquired a rich collection of newspaper cartoons. This arrangement is a collaboration with the Norwegian Cartoonist Gallery in Drøbak, and has been extended until 2028. “Newspaper cartoons that criticise and mock are free speech in practice. These drawings have a natural place at the Storting, and we as politicians must tolerate being scrutinised by the cartoonists’ gaze”, said President of the Storting Masud Gharahkhani at the opening of the exhibition in 2024.

The price of caricature

Today, there are places in the world where it is dangerous to be a satire cartoonist. Many have been jailed for their art, been pressured to go into exile, received death threats or been murdered for their work. One example is the Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali, who was openly shot and killed on a street in London on 22 July 1987, after having criticised both Israeli and Arab policy in his caricature drawings. The assassin was never caught. A more recent example is the terrorist attack against the staff of the satire magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris on 7 January 2015. Twelve people were killed by two extremists wishing to take vengeance on the magazine for having printed cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.

The last time a Norwegian cartoonist was jailed was during the Second World War. In February 1943, the magazine Norsk Ukeblad printed a front cover by Gunnar Bratlie, appearing to show a father helping an ungrateful son on skates. The Nazis recognised the man, with his Hitler moustache, as their Führer, and the boy as symbolising Quisling. Bratlie was arrested and was held in the Grini prison camp until the war ended on 8 May 1945.

Heine’s struggle

Though the Simplicissimus team had often been fined and sentenced to prison throughout the magazine’s nearly forty-year-long history, when the Nazis came to power, they experienced a censorship unlike any other. Blix was now completely out of Simplicissimus.

In 1933, the editorial team agreed to adopt a Nazi-friendly stance. Only Thomas Theodor Heine refused. His sharply critical drawings had long angered the Nazis, and now they were threatening to send him to the Dachau concentration camp. Heine managed to flee to Czechoslovakia. His former colleagues were no help. Quite the contrary, Gulbransson wrote in a letter to Nazi chief Walter Buch that Heine was “sitting comfortably in Prague”, and that “a Jew will always find someone to do the work for him, without realising it themselves”.

When Germany invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939, Heine’s life was once again in danger. Ragnvald Blix, however, did not betray his old friend. Together with chief editor Einar Skavlan, he secured a residence permit for Heine in Norway after rejections from both Sweden and Denmark. When the Germans occupied Norway, Heine had to flee once again. This time he went to Sweden, where he stayed until he died in 1948 at the age of 81.

Caricature controversy

On 30 September 2005, under the title “Muhammeds ansigt” (“The Face of Muhammad”), the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten printed twelve cartoons, several of which depicted the prophet Muhammad. This would be the start of the so-called caricature controversy. In response to the publication, a group of imams travelled from Denmark to the Middle East to mobilise against the newspaper. This action led to massive protests in Syria and elsewhere, in which Norwegian and Danish embassies were burned down.

The controversy culminated in the terrorist attack against the Charlie Hebdo editorial team in Paris in 2015, where twelve people lost their lives. Several of those involved still require police protection. For a while this was also true for the Norwegian editor Vebjørn Selbekk, who printed the cartoons in 2006 while he was chief editor of the Christian newspaper Magazinet. In today’s world, many cartoonists receive huge backlash for their art. PEN Norway has a so-called cities of refuge scheme for marginalised writers and artists. The scheme includes six cartoonists from Sudan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Iran and Syria, who have now received temporary residence permits and can work and live freely in Norway.

Crossing the line?

Caricatures exaggerate weaknesses and comical features to get their message across. In such a balancing act, it is easy to go too far.

With the onset of social media, it is now easier than ever for cartoons to spread, and they are more easily taken out of context and go on to live a life of their own. At the same time, the threshold for sharing angry opinions has become lower. The pressure faced by cartoonists can be enormous, with many reactions occurring simultaneously.

It can be difficult to create biting satire while at the same time ensuring that the drawings do not incite rage or uproar. There is therefore a danger that the cartoonist will hold back, a form of self-censorship.

On 27 December 2021, cartoonist Tord Torpe at Bergens Tidende illustrated an article on trans women in female changing rooms. This provoked strong reactions on social media, because many saw it as anti-trans. Rather than interpreting the cartoon as mocking the frightened, caricatured women, critics felt that it actually mocked the trans woman. In a complaint filed with the Norwegian Press Complaints Commission (PFU), the cartoon was described as “despicable” and “highly offensive”. When the cartoon was found not to have violated any points in the Ethical Code of Practice for the Norwegian Press, the case was dismissed.

A balancing act

Even though he was working in free countries throughout the 1930s, the global situation was so tense that Ragnvald Blix was constantly subjected to attempts at censorship and control. Both the Danish Berlingske Tidende and Swedish Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning received protests and demands from their respective country’s German and Italian embassies.

In 1932, German Nazi chief Hermann Göring was so angered by a feature article and a Blix cartoon in Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning that he wrote a letter of complaint to the newspaper. Blix’s editor, Torgny Segerstedt, stood firmly on the cartoonist’s side. Fellow cartoonist Heine later congratulated Blix for having inflicted the first foreign political defeat on the new German Reichsminister.

In Denmark, Berlingske Tidende was more anxious that Blix would cross the line. One of his anti-Nazi drawings was stopped at the press after several thousand copies had already been printed. In January 1940, the newspaper decided they could no longer associate with such an indomitable and sharply critical pen and dismissed him as a regular contributor.

Caricatures up for debate

Every now and then, cartoonists do go too far.

In 1982, the satire magazine Jesus Kristus & co. incited anger among many Christians. Jesus was drawn as an overweight “superhero” with the letter J on his chest. The Christian Democratic Party’s women’s association reported the magazine to the police for blasphemy, but the case was dismissed. In 2005, cartoonist Finn Graff drew Norwegian Conservative leader Erna Solberg and Progress Party leader Carl I. Hagen as two pigs engaged in the mating act, with Liberal leader Lars Sponheim helping out with the insemination. The Liberal Party’s women’s association reported the cartoon to PFU, but the complaint was rejected. The Commission has never found any cartoonists guilty, and has stated that they have “a tradition of showing a high degree of tolerance when it comes to the satire genre. Satire must often be tolerated even when it is experienced as offensive and unfair.”

British-Norwegian cartoonist Mike Tombs has worked for Fædrelandsvennen since 1975. He has satirised religious issues that have elicited strong reactions among the readers. “I have received serious threats on multiple occasions. Sometimes this has made me fear walking around in the city. It reaches a point at which you have to start thinking of your family and children – you have to be careful”, said Mike Tombs to Fædrelandsvennen in 2019.

The dark sides of caricature

Images and cartoons create immediate, strong impressions. This makes them very effective as propaganda. The use of exaggeration and overemphasis in caricature is often humorous and effective; however, these devices can also be used to spread racist and hateful opinions. Ever since the Middle Ages, Jews have been portrayed in antisemitic ways. A large beak nose, thick fingers and often holding money in their hands are just some of the stereotypes used. The German Nazi weekly magazine Der Stürmer specialised in antisemitic caricatures, and at its peak the magazine was printed in 480,000 copies per week.

In Norway, Nasjonal Samling spread racist and antisemitic posters and drawings. Harald Damsleth (1906–1971) was a prominent national-socialist propaganda cartoonist. In his anti-American cartoon from 1943, he used a number of symbols to tarnish the country’s reputation, including antisemitic and African-American stereotypes.

The ravages of time

In his drawing lessons as a youngster, Gulbransson learned the difference between the noses of a Semite, a Mongol, a Roman and a cannibal. In Gulbransson and Blix’s day, this kind of “racial teaching” was uncontroversial. In European newspapers, for instance, it was commonplace to joke about Africans and cannibalism. Words we now consider hateful were then seen as neutral.

In 1916, Blix joked about how white children would come to be a rarity in Artois, France due to all the African foreign fighters. In the Norwegian satire magazine Exlex, Blix drew a caricature of a Jewish man cutting off his nose, titled “Pogrom”. Another common racist device was to use colour to highlight prejudices against various ethnic groups. Asians were coloured yellow, while Native Americans were depicted as red, as well as often barbaric.

On eggshells

Although we all have our blind spots even today, we can say with a fair amount of certainty that we are more aware of racism and prejudice in today’s Norway than we were in the twentieth century. At the same time, the fear of misstepping can make cartoonists, who make their living by exaggerating and playing with clichés, lose confidence. It is then a huge help to be well-versed in the history of caricature and the devices that have been used to degrade others in the past. Without this knowledge, racist and harmful stereotypes might inadvertently be repeated.

For a newspaper cartoonist, the goal must be to draw all powerful figures in a satirised and inventive way. Though none should escape the cartoonist’s scrutiny, one would rather avoid reproducing the prejudices of the past under the guise of humour.

Do you get the picture?

Satire cartoonists often use symbols and references that their audience will be able to understand. However, our references do change over time. For that reason, old newspaper cartoons can sometimes be difficult to understand. A hundred years ago, Biblical symbols and images from Greek and Roman mythology were frequently used. For modern people, these references are not as immediately accessible.

Cartoonists also borrow heavily from art history. Parodies of old masterpieces have been a recurring trope. These drawings might then be labelled “Loosely based on …”.
A recent example is May Linn Clement’s illustration of Russian president Vladimir Putin. She draws inspiration from the British cartoonist James Gillray (1756–1815), who portrayed Napoleon Bonaparte as a greedy child. Gillray’s short-statured Napoleon caricatures became so famous that they helped spread the notion that the French emperor was exceptionally small. In reality, however, he was not.

In our time, with a far more fragmented public life, it can be difficult for cartoonists to arrive at references that can be widely understood.

Symbols as keys

To communicate complex issues in a single drawing, Blix and Gulbransson used a large number of established symbols. The Soviet Union was associated with a bear, France with a rooster. And much as John Bull was to Britain, the German people were symbolised by the young man known as Deutscher Michel. France was drawn as a woman, Marianne, and the United States as Uncle Sam.

Gulbransson and Blix were knowledgeable in world literature and religious history, and used this in their cartoons. Greek and Roman mythology were also more common knowledge back then than they are today. For example, during the world wars, the Roman god of war, Mars, was commonly used in cartoons. Symbols were also often combined in new, surprising ways, such as when Gulbransson drew the British lion whilst also playing on the myth of the Trojan horse from Homer’s Iliad.

Signs of the times

In caricatures from recent decades, logos, rainbows, emojis, viruses and face masks are recurring symbols. During his lifetime, the German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was satirised as a state leader, but he has since become a symbol all of his own. “Drawing the Nazi card” on one’s opponent is also sometimes known as “hitling”. In caricature, visual “hitling”, such as the addition of a scruffy small moustache or a swastika, is an effective way of leading the viewer’s thoughts to the far right. Some caricature symbols have deep-running roots.

In 1831, King Louis Philippe sued the satire newspaper La Caricature following a critical drawing. In court, editor Charles Philipon responded by drawing the king – increasingly resembling a pear. The point was simple: If a pear could resemble the king, anything could. Nevertheless, the newspaper lost. Later, Honoré Daumier made a poster showing the entire transformation from king to pear, and in this way, the pear became a lasting symbol of incompetent power figures. The story of the king and the pear has remained as an undying reference to the caricature tradition, and we are still often treated to new images of politicians in pear form.

Colophon:

The exhibition Drawing the Line is developed and produced by the National Library of Norway in partnership with:

Expert Advisor: Erle Marie Sørheim

Exhibit Design: Torsteinsen Design AS

Graphic Design: Eli Tangen AS

Lighting Design: Zenisk AS

Printing: Konsis

Exhibition Builder: Carpenter Petter Halvorsen

Editing and Translation: Nye Tillen AS

Copyright for artwork:

© Olaf Gulbransson / BONO, Oslo 2026

Ragnvald Blix: Blix Foundation

Acknowledgements:

The Norwegian Parliament (Storting)

The Norwegian Cartoonist Gallery (Avistegnernes Hus)

Pen Norway

Knut Nærum

Tormod Lindgren

Christian Ramm

Siri Dokken

May Linn Clement

Mette Hellenes

Mike Tombs

Marvin Halleraker

Christian Bloom

Finn Graff

Roar Hagen

Tord Torpe

Per Elvestuen

Tor Bomann-Larsen

Steffen Kverneland

Lars Fiske

Knut Høihjell