Alexander Åkerbladh [also known as Alex Åkerbladh] was born in Sundsvall, Sweden on 25 April 1886. By the early 1900s he had moved to Scotland. His address was given in the 1901 Scotland Census as 220 West Princes St, Glasgow. He studied architecture at Glasgow School of Art. [Note: it is is usually stated that he commenced his studies at the GSA in 1900, however, it may have been a little later as he would only have been aged 14 in 1900]. After leaving the GSA he worked as an apprentice with the architect John James Burnet (1857-1938) in Glasgow for seven years.
He studied art under Leonard Walker at St John's Wood Art School in London in 1916, and the following year under Anton Binder in Munich.
Akerbladh subsequently worked primarily as a freelance painter, illustrator and comic artist. His earliest known work for comics was for Illustrated Chips in 1909. He later contributed drawings to Comic Cuts, Kinema Comic, Sports Fun, Larks, Jingles, Firefly, Larks, Butterfly Crackers Annuals and Radio Fun.
He was a fine portrait painter, his sitters included the Duchess of Westminster, Sir Julian Amery, Michael Astor and the composer Frederick Delius. A solo exhibition of his work was held at the Fine Art Society in 1929. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy, International Society of Sculptors, Painters & Gravers, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, and Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in London; Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool; and at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts. In 1945 he was elected a member of the Art Workers
He lived in London, and for a period in France, before emigrating with his daughter to South Africa in 1959. They settled in Durban. He died in 1960*
* Note: Akerbladh's year of death is variously given as 1958, 1960 and 1967. 1960 appears to be the correct date [see Artist Biographies]
Catalogue of an exhibition of paintings of Riviera, Corsica and Italy by Alex. Akerbladh. London: Fine Art Society 1929