GRÖNA LUND POSTER ART
Posters for events and concerts at Gröna Lund, an amusement park in central Stockholm, have become highly collectible.
Gröna Lund is a permanent attraction in Stockholm
with exciting rides, restaurants and bars and an important concert stage. Most of the world’s more famous artists–ranging from Birgit Nilsson via Chuck Berry to The Clash–have performed on its outdoor stage.
Posters for events and concerts at Gröna Lund have become much sought-after collector's items. Between 1971 and 1988 they were designed by one man, Nils Sture Jansson–who produced about 800 individual posters, sometimes with incredibly short deadlines.
In 2012 publisher Premium Publishing produced a book containing 200 of Nils Sture Jansson’s poster designs edited by Nils Sture Jansson’s son, Jonas, and Gröna Lund’s own historian Andreas Theve. The book rapidly sold out when it was published–but I was lucky to find a copy in Söders Bokhandel– a little, but extremely well-stocked bookshop in Stockholm. The book has also become highly collectible.
Nils Sture Jansson’s relatively simple illustrations capture the spirit of the artists and, according to the book's introduction, were much admired by them. Only a few were unhappy–and that was sometimes due to the fact that his or her name was misspelt. Above you see some samples (of them some artists I personally like).
The tradition of expressive and artistic Gröna Lund posters continues. In recent years they are made by Kristian Russell , in a similar style as Nils Sture Jansson's, who died 2014 at the age of 78.
Below a sample of Russels posters.
In next blog post we take a look at the psychology behind vinyl record collecting. Stay tuned!
Richard Forrest, RockDoc
