Literature: Josef Petersen: “Den forbudte maler. Billeder fra Besættelsestiden af Harald Engman”, Copenhagen, 1945, ill. in colours p. 5.

“The most important period in Engman's artwork occurred during the years 1938–45. His opposition to Nazism resulted in a great number of highly provocative works in response to the Germans’ actions. Engman had his first clash with the Germans in 1939, where he at the initiative of the German envoy was banned from exhibiting the painting “Tidens malere” (Today’s Painters) in the pedestrian tunnel at the City Hall Square. In 1940, German soldiers intervened directly and closed the exhibition “Black Banners”. Engman fled to Sweden in 1943, where many of his anti-Nazi drawings were created. After the war things quieted down, and Engman has since been given the nickname ”The forbidden painter“.” Quoted from Joan Hauch's biography in Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon.