Erik Blegvad: Artist whose admiration for children's literature inspired drawings of great charm and translations of classic tales

Erik Blegvad published his memoir in 1979

Erik Blegvad was a Danish-born artist celebrated for his whimsical illustrations in more than 100 children's books. He worked as a commercial illustrator and developed a sophisticated pen-and-ink style that seemed perfectly suited for children's books.

Among his best known works are the illustrations for Mary Norton's Bed-Knob and Broomstick, The Tenth Good Thing About Barney, and his own translations into English of stories by his countryman Hans Christian Andersen. The Washington Post in 1996 called him a "modern master" for his illustrations of Andersen's tales.

He also collaborated with his wife Lenore Bledvag, author of numerous children's books which he illustrated until her death in 2008.

With his lifelong friend and fellow Dane Niels Mogens Bodecker, Blegvad published an illustrated memoir, Self-Portrait, in 1979. In it he describes his sense of exhilaration when work was going well: "When my lucky side is working I find myself concentrated at the tip of my pen, which to my delight proceeds to create people, objects and worlds I never knew existed."

Born in Copenhagen, he studied at the School of Arts and Crafts there before developing his reputation in the New York and Paris publishing worlds. While an art student and during the Nazi occupation of Denmark, he and a friend were arrested with a suitcase full of leaflets printed by the Danish resistance. He was imprisoned by the Gestapo for "several frightening days," said one of his two sons, the musician Peter Blegvad. He was released unharmed.

In 1966 he moved to London, and divided his time between the capital and the US, contributing to many American magazines and spending much of his time in South Wardsboro, Vermont.

GREGORY KATZ

© The Washington Post

Erik Blegvad, illustrator and translator: born Copenhagen 3 March 1923; married 1950 Lenore Hochman (died 2008; two sons); died London 14 January 2014.