Franz Karl Basler-Kopp

In addition to works with historic and biblical scenes, symbolic portrayals of the phases of life, he created, most famously, illustrations of legends and fairy tales.

He became known as a "fairy tale painter" ("Märchenmaler") through his illustrations of Arnold Büchli's three-volume work Schweizersagen (Swiss legends) (1926, 1928 and 1931) as well as through his illustration and cover design of several books, some of which were written for literary and musical education in schools, such as Osterhas, Sankt Nicolas, Weihnacht und Neujahr by Eduard Fischer (1926) and the book of fairy tales Am Märchenbrunnen by Helene Kopp.

Franz Karl Basler was born in Basel on February 17, 1879 [1] to a farming family from South Bavaria.

He later compensated for his lack of education with intensive reading of widely diverse literature, from which he almost always drew motifs for his artwork.

On the first study trip, he took part in an exhibition in Munich, after which he was invited by Ferdinand Avenarius, the director of the "Kunstwart", to publish some pictures.

As an artist Basler was a late-born romanticist, driven to continue the artistic elements that found their great fulfillment in Spitzweg, Welti, Böcklin, a narrator and illustrator who created a fairytale and saga of highly individual sentiment, relying on the pictorial power of popular poetry.