The art of Kay Nielsen

The celebrated Danish artist Kay Nielsen was born in Copenhagen on the 12th March 1886. His father was the Director of the Royal Danish Theatre, and his mother, Oda Larssen, was a very popular actress and singer. Kay (christened Kai) was inspired to illustrate the traditional Norse sagas read aloud to him by his mother during his childhood.

Kay left home at the age of eighteen to study art in the schools of Montparnasse, Paris. From 1904 to 1911 he studied at Colarossi and the Academie Julian.  The Russian Ballet, which took Paris by storm while he was studying there, proved to be a huge inspiration which led to the distinctive and exotic costumes found on many figures in his later book illustrations.

Kay's most productive and successful period began in 1911 when he moved to London and held his first major exhibition at the Dowdeswell Galleries in New Bond Street (July 1912). The success of this exhibition led to Kay Nielsen’s first commission from Hodder & Stoughton - In Powder and Crinoline a collection of lesser known old fairy tales retold by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.

By general consent, Kay Nielsen’s next book East of the Sun and West of the Moon: Old Tales from the North, was his most celebrated and spectacular success. The tales were translated from the Norwegian of two devoted collectors of Scandinavian folklore, Peter Christen Asbjornsen and Jorgen Moe and published by Hodder & Stoughton in October 1914. 
In 1917 Kay returned to Copenhagen and was employed as the chief stage designer at the Danish State Theatre until 1923.  During this period he painted a series of illustrations for The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and A Thousand and one Nights but the printing of this work in Denmark was abandoned due to the high costs after the war.

 He returned to London in 1924 when Hodder & Stoughton published his edition of Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales.  This was quickly followed by an edition of Hansel and Gretel and other stories by the Brothers Grimm.   The illustrations for Hansel and Gretel and his later book Red Magic were exhibited at the Leicester Square Gallery in London in late 1930.

In 1938 he and his wife moved to Los Angeles where Kay managed to obtain occasional work as a set designer. He spent four years working for Walt Disney where his work was used in the "Ave Maria" and "Night on Bald Mountain" sequences of Fantasia. In 1942 he was commissioned to paint a large mural called The First Spring and a later commission was for an alter painting based on the 23rd Psalm for the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, this was completed in 1947, after which there was no more work for six years.   Even in his native Denmark, to which he and his wife returned briefly, Nielsen’s art was no longer in demand. He remained in artistic obscurity until his death in June 1957 at the age of 71.  

His books, however, have enjoyed a happy ending. Embellished with gorgeous watercolours, ornate endpapers and decorative motifs, they are now highly sought after by art lovers and book collectors worldwide.

The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen now sold, thank you for your interest.

I like the ethereal quality of Kay Nielsen's art - but what do you think?