Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing..., April 15, 2007
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.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kay Nielsen, whose light and color shines through once again, August 23, 2006
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 fairy tales and they of his art, and the two of my life back then in the 1940's as a polio victim.
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, and I 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 ot 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 cramed into 64 pages and all are full page (with borders and titles).
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Golden Age illustrator in his full glory, July 10, 2006
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.
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