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ABU Art Appreciation

ABU realized the value of imagery and the memory from the earliest days as their catalogs started with simple line drawings, sketches and quickly moved to B&W images, then Colour photographic images and later sculptures/relief works in the 70's. Please enjoy these spanning nearing 5 decades starting in the 40's.

ABU Early Line Art

ABU Early Photographs

My all time favourite image from ABU,  Napp och Nytt was produced for the  1956 catalog and evokes in me, many happy childhood fishing moments. I certainly didn't have a fine Record casting reel like this lucky boy, but for kids it was not the technology being employed,  rather  grasping the freedom, excitement and opportunity  of the moment!

May kids worldwide continue always to experience these joys!

A second image that brings back childhood fishing memories!

Friendships via fishing reminiscent of the old Rod and Real combo.

 Pure enjoyment for this Lapp boy in 1960.

ABU also recognizes the low technology approach to fishing by kids with bamboo pole and fixed line.

ABU were quick to recognize fishing could be an enjoyable family pursuit.

Girls and kids of all ages  enjoy the excitement of fishing if taught to be competent  when young

These 2 Covers below  from Napp och Nytt 2002/2004 grace the walls of my home

More updates courtesy of Len Borgstrom.

Wayne,

I just got the pictures of the bronze reliefs telling the history of sport fishing. These are mounted in the entrance to the factory in Svängsta and were made by Hjalmar Ekberg – at that time a worker at the factory. Two copies were made for Garcia and mounted on their wall at their Teaneck facility in New Jersey and at the Conolon factory. The original plaster models were mounted in my party room in the basement of my Svängsta home.

Regards!

Len

 After some discussion with Len Borgstom, (quotes below)  I have learned a lot more about the working environment of A.B.Urfabriken in Svangsta.

So you can see ABU's appreciation for fine art was present from the beginning and continues to this day.

Art was not merely created on paper with pen and ink or watercolours or photographs, it was also cast in bronze as small limited edition objects d'art  to be won in fishing competitions as well as massive corporate casting, some of which Len Borgstrom has kindly invited us into his home to share with us here.

The Marlin, typical universal exaggerating fisherman and School of Salmon

I was well aware of the consideration of aesthetics by the company to produce such beautiful products but it seems the employees were immersed in fine art even when relaxing at lunch time.

"As I  have mentioned in my book, we also had an active Art Club at ABU. We invited known Swedish artists to hang their art in the ABU cafeteria so that every employee got a chance to constantly be exposed to fine art."

We all remember the beautiful Jubilee year in 1971 when the covers of Napp och Nytt /Tight Lines changed from the traditional photographic fishing images to artistic paintings. Unfortunately this approach lasted for 10 years only.

The covers of Napp och Nytt  were created  by well known artists. We got tired of doing what everybody else did – having products or some fisherman holding a fish on the cover. I have mentioned this in my book. We started with that idea 1971 with a famous illustrator Ib Thaning , Denmark. 1972 Gunnar Brusewitz, Sweden I forgot who made 1973, 1974 Harald Wiberg, Sweden,  1975  with Tom Sayers and Huckleberry Finn,  by Per Åhlin (this artist also made animated movies). 1976 was an American artist (Scott), 1977 Ralph Judell, Sweden.  1978 the name of the Swedish artist was Arenhill. 1979 an artist from Checkoslovakia, 1980 a Danish well known artist Mads Stage, I do not know who made the leaping salmon 1981, but I would think that Bengt Olofsson would know. As you know, I left for the US 1978 and the last picture that I picked was Mads Stage"

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ABU was also responsible for furthering the artistic careers of several of its employees.

"Two employees ended up being full time sculptors. One of them (Hjalmar Ekberg) made the four piece relief showing the history of fishing, hanging in the entrance stairways to the main factory in Svangsta. The other artist (Johnny Martinsson) made the relief showing my father located outside the same factory."

ABU noted Sportfishing in Literature

Hopefully more to follow....