Oscar Knudsen

Oscar Knudsen was a Danish children's book illustrator, poster artist and comic artist. He is best known for illustrating 160 titles in the OTA's Boggave collection between 1924 and 1942 and for his drawings for Robert Fisker's 'Peter Pjusk' books between 1953 and 1963.

Knudsen drew a newspaper strip called 'Troldstokken' for the magazine Børnenes Ugeblad in the 1920s. For the same magazine he made Pierrot tales with writer Niels Meyn. When Børnenes Ugeblad continued as Fritiden in 1932, Knudsen continued his collaboration by making pictures stories like 'The Three Musketeers', 'Det Hvide Folk', 'Tigermennesket' and 'Guldøerne'. His next comic strip work was an adaptation of the Andersen tale 'The Tinder-box' for the P.I.B. agency from Copenhagen.

During the German occupation, Knudsen's co-worker Niels Meyn worked for the nazi paper Fædrelandet. His close connection to Meyn brought Knudsen to disrepute after the liberation. Therefore, Knudsen often worked under pseudonyms like O.K. or O'Kay during the 1940s and 1950s. During this period, he illustrated for books and magazines like Landet.

For Landet magazine, he not only illustrated stories with science-fiction content, but also the comic strips 'Pionerdrengen' (1949) and 'Mysteriet i Cirkus Turino' (1950). Besides an illustrator for the press, Knudsen was also a poster artist for several Danish and Scandinavian circuses since the 1920s.