To India by SAS

Otto Nielsen
c1950
Linen backed poster
24 x 39.5 in. (61 x 100 cm.)

Provenance: Distinguished private collection, New York

To India by SAS is a c.1950 travel poster created by Otto Nielsen. The artwork was commissioned by Scandinavian Airline System (S.A.S.), which is known today as Scandinavian Airlines. Nielsen created many beautiful posters for SAS from 1954 to 1976. These posters showcase Nielsen’s loose oil painting technique and feature the people and animal life from destinations across the globe.

This poster is most likely Nielsen’s earliest work for S.A.S due to the format differences and absence of the “S.A.S” abbreviated branding. Here Nielsen depicts a beautiful jungle scene set against the famous Hampi Temple found in the ruin city of Kamataka. The Hindu goddess Lakshmi holding two Lotus flowers is pictured above. At the top of the poster appears the original logo for S.A.S, which featured wings and the flags of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

Otto Nielsen (1916-2000) was an accomplished painter who dedicated much of his career to studying the people and animals of different regions. He illustrated many travel books outside his career at SAS. Nielsen created posters as well as calendars and other promotional material for SAS for nearly 50 years.

This is an Original Vintage Poster; it is not a reproduction. This poster is conservation mounted, linen backed, and in excellent condition.