About

Kay Nielsen (pronounced kigh), (1886-1957) was a Danish illustrator who worked through the early to middle 20th century. This period is considered by some the "Golden Age of Illustration." This age begins with development of new printing technology by pioneers like Daniel Vierge, who greatly improved the mass and accurate reproduction of artists’ work and ends with the Second World War.
Nielsen was among many early 20th Century artists like Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac who found work illustrating popular “gift-books” of the day. WWII represents the end of this “Golden Age of Illustration” as resources were shifted to meet demands of the war and as high-end illustration became less of a necessity with the advent of offset printing.
Nielsen was born the son of aristocrats in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1886, where his father was director of the Royal Danish Theatre. Nielsen studied art in Paris from 1904 to 1911 and then lived in England from around 1911 to 1916.
At age eighteen, Kay left home to study in Paris, where he lived in Montparnasse and studied art at the "Acadamie Julien under Jean Paul Laurence; thereafter Collarossi under Kristian Krag and several others; the last Lucien Simon" (Nielsen 1945).
Nielsen's work generally draw upon three major influences. The first being oriental art, which he became familiar with early on as his grandfather was a collector of Chinese sculpture and art. Much of Nielsen's art resembles Japanese woodcut prints as Susan Meyer notes, in her book "A Treasury Of The Great Children's Book Illustrators," which, "led to much of his own work: asymmetrical composition, large vacant areas, sinuous line work, and a flattened perspective" (Meyer 1983).
A second influence was Aubrey Beardsley, whose floral stylized characteristics are common in Nielsen's work, as well as his frequent use of whimsical and elongated figures.
Logically, the Art Nouveau movement was the third influence most commonly recognized in Nielsen's work as the movement itself was somewhat defined by the previous artistic contributions of Aubrey Beardsley.
His first English commission was by the publishing house Hodder and Staughton to illustrate a collection of fairytales. Nielsen provided 24 color plates and over 15 monotone illustrations for the book In Powder and Crinoline, Fairy Tales Retold by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, 1913.
In 1914, Nielsen provided 25 color plates and some 21 monotone images for the children's collection East of The Sun West of The Moon, Old tales From the North, 1914.
Colored images for both In Powder and Crinoline and East of the Sun and West of the Moon, were reproduced using a 4-colour process, a contrast to much of the illustrations of the day that used a 3-color printing process.
Nielsen contributed illustrations of the book Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen, in 1924, which included 12 color plates and more than 40 monotone illustrations.
In 1925, Nielsen made contributing illustrations to Hansel and Gretel: And Other Stories by the Brothers Grimm, which included 12 color images and some 20 detailed monotone illustrations.
In 1930, Red Magic, Nielsen’s final complete illustrative work was published. This first edition included 8 color and over 50 monotone Nielsen illustrations.
Nielsen moved to Hollywood in 1939 to pursue a career in commercial and film illustration. This move led Nielsen to The Walt Disney Company, where he contributed primarily to background scenes in Disney’s animated features. Many of these can be seen in animated musical “Fantasia,” particularly the “Night on Bald Mountain” and “Ave Maria” sequences.
Nielsen died in 1957 in poverty and relative obscurity, having ended his days producing paintings for local civic and public facilities.

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