Christel Marott

Christel Andrée Julie Louise Brián Schwarck, married Marott (December 6, 1919 - May 2, 1992 in Herlev) known throughout Denmark as Christel for short was a Danish cartoonist, painter, illustrator and sculptor. Her debut in 1939 was for the weekly magazine Søndags-B.T. with which she remained on a contract the entire life as well as she worked throughout her life for magazines in Denmark as well as abroad. She made illustrations for novels and short stories, fashion tips, pattern sheets, vignettes for astrology as well as paper dolls. She illustrated books, a.o. the Susy Rødtop series by Gretha Stevns and the Puk series by Lisbeth Werner. She designed a series of porcelain figurines for Royal Copenhagen. Christel's drawings was sold as letterheads, in girlfriend books and in a range of other products. She made commercial drawings for several products, designed clothes and shoes under the label of Christel of Copenhagen. She sculptured and decorated mannequin dolls for Hindsgaul and in 1971 she designed the decorations and costumes for the Noël Coward play Private Lives. Her drawings were also published as a collectors itema and as pin-ups.^[1]

Christel drew in a very personal style, which appealed to both young women and young men, and she was able to draw both erotic and sweat at the same time.^[2] In her own opinion she felt that her popularity was connected to the possible fact that her drawings "contained a large element of fashion and new style at a time when girls looked dreadful in the clothes that they could buy, as no-one had yet bothered to invent women's everyday fashion".^[1]

Christel was married to the actor Johannes Marott with whom she became the mother of three children; Kasper, Stine and Kim. From 1973 and until the rest of her life she resided in Rome, Italy.

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