Later works in the exhibition reflect changes to the illustrated book market brought on by World War I. During this time, Nielsen moved back to Copenhagen and returned to the performing arts, designing costumes and stage sets for theater and ballet. A decade passed before another large group of his illustrations appeared in a new edition of Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen (1924).
Visitors are invited to draw comparisons between two versions of an illustration for the tale The Nightingale — one unpublished, depicting Death with a scythe, and one published, which features a gentler interpretation of the scene. The influence of Nielsen’s publisher may also be evident in the overall presentation of his work for Hansel and Gretel and Other Stories by the Brothers Grimm (1925), which features bolder illustrations in a more saturated palette.
Illustration from East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Kay Nielsen, 1913–1914. Transparent watercolor, pen and ink, gesso and metallic paint, over graphite. Promised gift of Kendra and Allan Daniel. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
His final book commission, Red Magic: A Collection of the World’s Best Fairy Tales from all Countries, was published in 1930 and released in a more affordable format that was substantially smaller than his previous publications. The reduced scale meant that Nielsen’s artistic skill and stylistic range were not shown to their best advantage. The three original illustrations on view in the exhibition, which match Nielsen’s earlier work in technique and creativity, reposition this important project, which truly spoke to his affinity for global storytelling and international artistic traditions.
In addition to Nielsen’s original illustration art, the exhibition includes watercolors from the artist’s pictorial series, which were once published in contemporary magazines such as The Illustrated London News. Examples of his work in theater design and animation, including a concept drawing for the Night on Bald Mountain sequence in Disney’s 1940 film Fantasia, are also on display.
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