Art Masters: Munch
By Steffen Kverneland
Translated by Francesca M. Nichols
Paperback, 280 pp, $24.95
An extraordinary and inventive graphic biography, Steffen Kverneland's Munch explores the relationships and obsessions that drove the artist behind 'The Scream'. Using text drawn from the writings of Edvard Munch and his contemporaries, this extensively researched and beautifully drawn graphic novel debunks the familiar myth of the half-mad expressionist painter – anguished, starving and ill-treated – to reveal the artist's neglected sense of humour and optimism. Born out of a life-long fascination with all things Munch, Kverneland's award-winning seven-year project is the funniest and most entertaining portrait yet of a complex man and a pioneering artist.
Steffen Kverneland
Steffen Kverneland is a Norwegian comics artist. He published his first comic aged 16 in the magazine Konk before going on to create work for numerous underground magazines, often under the pseudonym S. Susej. With the cartoonist Lars Fiske, he has created graphic biographies of Olaf Gulbransson and Kurt Schwitters, as well as Kanon, a series of comics about 19th century art. His award-winning graphic biography of Edvard Munch, published in English by SelfMadeHero, won the prestigious Brage Prize for Literature. Munch has been translated into several other languages and original art from the book resides in Norway's National Gallery of Art.
Reviews
"Funny and irreverent, it makes Munch seem very human, even if it places his genius beyond doubt."
— The Observer
"This clever, feverish labour of love is a fine addition to the Art Masters series."
— The Guardian
"Munch is a dazzlingly use of sequential storytelling... Rarely have I read a more entertaining biography."
— The Comics Journal