Customer Reviews

Nielsen's Fairy Tale Illustrations in Full Color (Dover Fine Art, History of Art)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was looking for a book of Nielsen's outstanding and unique art work...well this isn't really it. If you are looking for the same you will be disappointed with the cheap printing, poor resolution and lame detail. What makes Nielsen's art so beautiful and interesting are his patterned details and gorgeous lines, but these pictures are so small the details are lost. I'm assuming the original, out of print editions of his work would be the only other place to find these illustrations...what a shame.

As a small child, I read East of The Sun West of the Moon, in awe and wonderment. The strangely delicate and yet colorfully ornate and fierce illustration of Kay (Pronounced Kigh, like high) Nielsen blended with the prose of the Nordic Fairy Tales, which in original translation were more than a trifle erotic and violent, even a bit horrifying, were an odd combination, like a bowl of chocolate banana split, with strawberries, and whipped cream, followed by a three inch, giant T-bone steak smothered in pork chops, tomato sauce, onions, garlic and chicken livers, topped with an oyster. However, throughout my life thereafter, Nielsen's art reminded me of those fairy tales and the fairy tales of the Northlands, reminded me of his art of his art, and of my life back then in the 1940's paralyzed for the better part of two years as a polio victim, with naught to do but read.

Eventually I grew out of polio racked paralysis and gained strength and my taste in art and illustration moved on to more powerful art: the American Brandywine painters, and John Singer Sargent, Frank Brangwyn, Dean Cornwell, Joaquin Sorolla and the utterly brightly sun splashed colors of the Italian Macheollists, like Irolli and Boldini. Despite that, there was still a soft spot in my heart for the consumptively, pale, wane, tall and willowy figures of Nielsen which delighted me in my childhood and shed some light on days spent in a bed of a boy stricken with polio which eventually and happily healed. At that time I in my paleness, pain, and weakness, identified with those frail looking warriors and their heroism despite their scant physique cheered me, giving me hope.

This book revives Nielsen's interpretations of the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen and East of The Sun West of the Moon and other Nordic tales collected in: In Powder and Crinoline. It brought back sunny and dark memories of an era of World War, Classic baseball, healthy food, and after I healed, summers at our lake house and learning how to hit fast pitching, to paint and write. The book is a feast for the eyes of an era long gone and a style no longer popular, but like old movies on TCM, and older wine, mellows with age and lights a fire of reminiscence of childhood in simpler times and simpler art and writing. Those ancient fairy tales were probably more literary and rough, for a more rugged breed of people than present day Americans, and more now for adults than children, but the art is probably not so restricted, especially if you loved the art and writing of the 1920's-1940's.
There are 59 color illustrations crammed into 64 pages and all are full page (with borders and titles).

I ordered this book as one of several gifts for my girlfriend's birthday. It seemed to nicely suit her interest in fairytale illustrations, and after looking more deeply into the artist's work I saw that his compositions were consistently charming and expertly crafted. It was the perfect purchase... or was it?

In retrospect I should have paid more attention to the one critical review here on Amazon. While the illustrations themselves are beautiful the reproductions are perplexingly small in relation to the size of the page. Many of them look washed out (no, not because they're watercolors) and the details are hopelessly fuzzy and indistinct. It's no exaggeration to say better copies can be found in online galleries for free. While it's great to see some of these hard to find illustrations in print again for an affordable price, it's painfully obvious that whoever designed the layout of the book either doesn't have the keen eye of an art lover or just doesn't care about quality presentation. The work deserves better and it's very disappointing.

As a child I found Kay Nielsen's illustratons by turns terrifying and exquisitely beautiful. His illustrations for "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" fell into the former category, as did several of those for "In Powder and Crinoline": the black-winged North Wind striding over a churning sea; and the ghastly periwigged phantoms casting distorted shadows on the wall as they toss dice for each other's souls. Nielsen's lyrical landscapes and lovely ladies with powdered wigs and crinoline skirts belong to the latter: the white marble grecian temple atop a cliff overlooking a pool, reflecting a marble moon bridge; and the twelve dancing princesses moving secretly through a forest of slim-trunked tall trees whose trailing leaves seem like cascades of pearls and emeralds. I especially liked Nielsen's trees and recall trying to imitate them in my drawings. I also loved his star-spattered skies.

As an adult, I can see why I found many of his illustrations threatening, and I can also see why I found so many of them enchanting. His stark decorative designs with their somber palette, and his angry male figures, which I can see now are ambiguously gendered, seemed like the stuff of nightmares. At the same time, his slender princesses with their elaborately patterned silks and satins seemed like the stuff of enchanted dreams.

In either event, Kay Nielsen's illustrations are unforgettable!

Congratulations to Dover Publications for bringing out this slim large-format tribute to Kay Nielsen, one of the generation of Golden Age illustrators that also included Rackham, Dulac and Crane. I've been hoping for quite a while to see such a publication, and I am not disappointed.

There is hardly any text-just a brief introduction to the life and work of this Danish illustrator, and appropriate quotes beneath each illustration. Many of Nielsen's fairy tale images are here (58 in all), and the full-page format enables the reader to really appreciate the detail for which Nielsen was renowned.There is more than a hint of Beardsley as far as style is concerned, also very Hiroshige-style waves in several of the pictures.Stylized bodies and elaborate costumes abound.

Unlike many artbooks, this one is softback, very light and perfectly portable.It is also very reasonably priced.

These Kay Nielsen illustrations from the turn of the century are so instantly recognizable in style, and beautifully matched to the fairy tales they illustrate. This book has none of the stories, so you'll have to buy those separately. Almost all of the illustrations are from East of the Sun and West of the Moon. If you like these Norse tales you will love this book.

The quality of the reproductions is moderate, but that didn't matter to me because the books with the nice old plates are expensive collector's items. At just a few dollars this Dover reproduction is very affordable. Maybe someday a publisher will reissue the story book with the illustrations.

this man was a genius, with a WIDE vocabulary in mark making and styles within one illustration. the fact that he lived in near poverty towards the end of his life is a crying shame. one of my favorite artists of all time, great book.

I'm going to join the line of reviewers before me who commented on the low-quality reproductions in this book. Dover's illustration collections always have me excited at first - they collect the work of so many of my favorite illustrators - and then disappointed, as soon as I try to to take a closer look. Fine lines and areas of tight detail (hair and horses' manes, fabric folds, decorative motifs) are fuzzy, and many of the paler colors and textures (skies, water) are nearly invisible. As another reviewer also commented, given that so much of the wonder of Nielsen's work is in his ornate detailing, publication of such poor reproductions seems self-defeating.

Additionally, the typesetting of the cover is tacky and the interior can best be described as "functional" (hello, Times New Roman). The brief publisher's note does provide a decent introduction to Nielsen's life and influences, though. All in all, it seems like little effort was put into making this collection visually appealing or satisfying. So while the price does make it a decent deal, I still wouldn't really call the book "worth it," if you're a serious fan of Nielsen's art. Used copies of some of the older books featuring quality plates of his work are pretty affordable (I've seen a nice edition from the 1970's running around $40); I wish I'd held out and bought one of those instead.

This is a good book for gathering the bulk of Nielsen's children book art. The printing quality is good but not as fine as the various books it is taken from.

Those who have fallen in love with Nielson's work will love this slim volume of illustrations. Each page is devoted to a particular illustration with a reference line from the particular story. Obviously bear in mind that this is a book devoted exclusively to the illustrations and does not contain the stories. An excellent purchase.