Kjell Aukrust (19 March 1920 – 24 December 2002) was a Norwegian author, poet, artist and humorist. Aukrust is principally known for his Flåklypa stories and Flåklypa drawings.

Personal life

Aukrust was born in Alvdal Municipality in

Hedmark Hedmark () was a Counties of Norway, county in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmar ...

, Norway as a son of Lars Olsen Aukrust (1886–1965) and Louise Walmsnæss (1887–1973). His father was rector at Storsteigen Agricultural School in Alvdal. He was a nephew of poet Olav Aukrust, brother of Odd Aukrust, a noted economist who was responsible for research at

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway (, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All rele ...

. He was married to Kari Holter in 1947. He trained at the

Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry The National College of Art and Design () was established in 1818. In 1996, the National College of Art and Design became part of Oslo National Academy of the Arts (''Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo'', KHiO), along with the Norwegian National Academy of ...

1938–42. In 1939, one of his drawings was accepted at the Autumn Exhibition in Oslo. His memoirs of his childhood in Alvdal appeared in the series of three books: ''Simen'', ''Bonden'' and ''Bror Min'' published in 1958, 1964 and 1960.

Career

He is most famous for his creation of the fictional Norwegian village of Flåklypa populated with a cast of idiosyncratic characters. He created the Flåklypa society while being an illustrator and columnist for the magazine ''Mannskapsavisa'', with characters such as Reodor Felgen, Solan Gundersen, Ludvig and Emanuel Desperados. His column, which was modelled as a collection of satirical newspaper articles, was eventually renamed ''Flåklypa Tidende''. This setting was the basis of the 1975

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

film " Flåklypa Grand Prix", directed by

Ivo Caprino Ivo Caprino (17 February 1920 – 8 February 2001) was a Norway, Norwegian film director and writer, best known for his puppet films. His most noted film, ''Flåklypa Grand Prix'' (Pinchcliffe Grand Prix), was made in 1975. Early life Cap ...

. The film was the first full-length animated feature in Norway, became an international success and has been translated into more than seventy languages. In Britain it is known as "Pinchcliffe Grand Prix". The protagonist Reodor Felgen (English version: Theodore Rimspoke) has become synonymous in Norway with Rube Goldberg type contraptions. Some of the characters who populated the village of Pinchcliffe were also the basis for the first full-length hand drawn animated feature in Norway, "Solan, Ludvig og Gurin med reverompa". Released in 1998, this movie takes place in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

and Alvdal. In Britain it is known as '' Gurin with the Foxtail''.

Huset Aukrust

In 1996, Aukrustsenteret (now Huset Aukrust) was opened in Alvdal. The center was designed by architect Sverre Fehn. In addition to Aukrust's drawings, Huset Aukrust contains many of Kjell Aukrust's imaginative technical devices, such as a model of Il Tempo Gigante, the car featured in the film ''Flåklypa Grand Prix''.

References

External links

*
Huset Aukrust website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aukrust, Kjell 1920 births 2002 deaths People from Alvdal 20th-century Norwegian painters Norwegian male painters 20th-century Norwegian male writers Norwegian humorists Norwegian columnists Norwegian satirists Norwegian satirical columnists 20th-century Norwegian illustrators 21st-century Norwegian illustrators 20th-century Norwegian male artists Norwegian magazine illustrators