Albert Julius Olsson was a British maritime artist and keen yachtsman, born in Islington, London, to a Swedish father and an English mother. From 1890 to 1912, despite having little or no formal artistic training himself, he taught alongside Louis Grier and later Algernon Talmage at the St Ives school of artists. His work was first accepted at the Royal Academy in 1890, and he joined the New English Art Club in 1891. In 1912 he returned to London and in 1914 Olsson was elected ARA, becoming a full member of the Royal Academy in 1920. During the First World War he had served as a lieutenant in the Navy, giving him the opportunity to paint naval ships in action. He married Edith Ellison in 1925, the daughter of an Irish horse breeder, and thereafter made frequent painting trips both to Ireland and to Sweden, always concentrating on the effects of light on water. In the Second World War he was bombed out of his London studio. He died at Dalkey, near Dublin, in 1942. His works may be found in museums and collections, particularly in the UK.