Engelbert Bertel-Nordström

Engelbert Bertel-Nordström was born in Finland, and was a Finnish-Swedish graphic artist and cartoonist. He worked as a clerk before he started drawing for Finnish and Swedish newspapers. Bertel-Nordström was a self-taught artist, but made study trips to København, Paris, Germany and Italy. He also worked as an expressionistic painter, and painted mainly landscapes and Stockholm motives. Bertel-Nordström was an active member of the “Optimists” group of artists. Only after World War II did he turn to sculpture. He was married to sculptress Gertrude Paulina “Ninnan” Santesson (1891-1969) and later to singer and actress Alice Margareta Högfors (1905-74).

Bertel-Nordström was also an avid wrestler and was a member of the Helsinki Athletic Club. Propagating the combination of art and sport he initiated, and chaired (1943-46), the association “Art in the sport”. He was artists’ representative in the Swedish NOK and in 1936 served as commissioner of the Swedish section of the art exhibition at the Olympic Games in Berlin.