Ingrid Vang Nyman

Vang Nyman did not travel much in her life, but she held a fascination for other cultures, and particularly with children from China, Africa, India, and beyond. She created a series of lithographs intended for use either in a children's geography book or along with editorial pieces about the cultures depicted in them. In 1948, they were published in a set of prints titled Children in East and West. The lithographs showed a great attention to detail and knowledge of the cultures Vang Nyman was representing. It is possible that Vang Nyman's fascination with these cultures also influenced her style in other illustrations, as the flatness of her compositions and the bright blocks of colour could be said to resemble Japanese woodblock prints. She worked with her step-cousin, Pipaluk Freuchen, to illustrate her first children's book about an Inuit boy called Ivik.

Ingrid Vang Nyman (born Ingrid Vang Lauridsen) was born in Vejen in southern Jylland. Born to a family of intellectuals, Vang Nyman was encouraged to learn and study independently. Following preparatory study at seventeen, she studied for a couple of years at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen from the age of nineteen. However, she did not enjoy her time there and ended her studies early. While at the Academy, she met the painter, cartoonist, and lyricist Arne Nyman, whom she married in 1940 and had a son with named Peder. They moved to Stockholm in 1942, and her marriage to Arne Nyman dissolved within a few years. Vang Nyman produced many of her most significant illustrations between 1945 and 1952. This includes her illustrations from Pippi Longstocking, published in 1945 by Rabén and Sjögren. Vang Nyman settled in Copenhagen in 1954. She struggled with many illnesses, both physical and psychological, and committed suicide in 1959.

Ingrid Vang Nyman (21 August 1916 – 13 December 1959) was a Danish illustrator noted for her work on the Pippi Longstocking books of which she was the original illustrator. Despite the worldwide fame of her Pippi illustrations, Vang Nyman did not receive as much recognition from the publication as author Astrid Lindgren, and remains fairly unknown.