DOI issue:
Nr. 202 (December, 1913)
DOI article:Dixon, Marion Hepworth: The drawings of Kay Nielsen
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43454#0191
Kay Nielsen s Drawings
perverse and morbid. He can enter into the spirit
of Hans Andersen. A drawing such as The Flying
Trunk shows that the young artist can emancipate
himself wholly from the Beardsley tradition. In it
he exhibits a nice sense of whimsicality and
espieglerie, while The Story of a Mother is not with-
out its potent charm. Charm, by the way, is the
adjective which best describes such illustrations as
The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Minon Minette, and
Felicia listening to the Hen's Story in the little tale
called “ The Pot of Pinks ” in Sir Arthur Quiller
Couch’s recent volume called “ In Powder and
Crinoline,” published by Messrs. Hodder and
Stoughton. The original drawings for these illus-
trations are to be seen this autumn at the Leicester
Galleries, and should go far to prove that happy as
Mr. Kay Nielsen is as a black-and-white artist he
can be equally felicitous when he attempts to in-
terpret his thoughts in colour.
In speaking of Mr. Kay Nielsen’s colour we
enter into the second phase of his career, and see
him now manifestly indebted to the great Chinese
colourists for inspiration. He could go to no
better masters. In truth, while the art of all
young men is derivative—and Mr. Kay Nielsen’s
precocious talent was bound to be eminently so—-
he is manifestly showing as he progresses a fancy
so delicate, an outlook so original, that no charge
of plagiarism can be brought against him. Thus
if he assimilated and made his own Beardsley’s
method of spatter and stipple as he did much of his
sense of line, it is clear the new-comer knows the
uses of a jumping-off board. It is safe to say that he
will attain to complete self-expression and originality
when he has acquired the use of his tools.
In his colour designs he is delicate and sugges-
tive rather than forceful. So much Mr. Nielsen’s
second exhibition of works at the Leicester Galleries
will prove to the public this autumn. Very lovely in
its faint blues and greens with tones of russet-red is
the illustration to Minon
Minette. The dramatic
gesture of the lady, the
fine sweep of the flowery
skirts, the correct model-
ling of the white horse
—all are dainty yet finely
considered. Properly sub-
dued to the scheme of a
purely decorative theme is
the illustration to the story
of Rosanie-, yet here again
the Beardsley tradition
rears its head. In The
Man who never laughed
the artist has struck
a pretty vein of his
own and one he would do
well to cultivate. Inimit-
able as a study of charac-
ter is this glimpse of the
Early Victorian coulisse.
The louche, blear-eyed
waiter fingering his
money is a study in him-
self, and suggests that
Mr. Kay Nielsen might
give us, if he were so
minded, another and
vastly entertaining Early
Victorian “ Rake’s Pro-
gress.” Will he try ? His
success would be a fore-
gone conclusion.
“FELICIA LISTENING TO THE HEN’S STORY”: ILLUSTRATION TO “THE POT OF
PINKS.” BY KAY NIELSEN
(By courtesy ot Messrs. Hodder Stoughton and Messrs. Ernest Brown 6° Phillips)
I25
perverse and morbid. He can enter into the spirit
of Hans Andersen. A drawing such as The Flying
Trunk shows that the young artist can emancipate
himself wholly from the Beardsley tradition. In it
he exhibits a nice sense of whimsicality and
espieglerie, while The Story of a Mother is not with-
out its potent charm. Charm, by the way, is the
adjective which best describes such illustrations as
The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Minon Minette, and
Felicia listening to the Hen's Story in the little tale
called “ The Pot of Pinks ” in Sir Arthur Quiller
Couch’s recent volume called “ In Powder and
Crinoline,” published by Messrs. Hodder and
Stoughton. The original drawings for these illus-
trations are to be seen this autumn at the Leicester
Galleries, and should go far to prove that happy as
Mr. Kay Nielsen is as a black-and-white artist he
can be equally felicitous when he attempts to in-
terpret his thoughts in colour.
In speaking of Mr. Kay Nielsen’s colour we
enter into the second phase of his career, and see
him now manifestly indebted to the great Chinese
colourists for inspiration. He could go to no
better masters. In truth, while the art of all
young men is derivative—and Mr. Kay Nielsen’s
precocious talent was bound to be eminently so—-
he is manifestly showing as he progresses a fancy
so delicate, an outlook so original, that no charge
of plagiarism can be brought against him. Thus
if he assimilated and made his own Beardsley’s
method of spatter and stipple as he did much of his
sense of line, it is clear the new-comer knows the
uses of a jumping-off board. It is safe to say that he
will attain to complete self-expression and originality
when he has acquired the use of his tools.
In his colour designs he is delicate and sugges-
tive rather than forceful. So much Mr. Nielsen’s
second exhibition of works at the Leicester Galleries
will prove to the public this autumn. Very lovely in
its faint blues and greens with tones of russet-red is
the illustration to Minon
Minette. The dramatic
gesture of the lady, the
fine sweep of the flowery
skirts, the correct model-
ling of the white horse
—all are dainty yet finely
considered. Properly sub-
dued to the scheme of a
purely decorative theme is
the illustration to the story
of Rosanie-, yet here again
the Beardsley tradition
rears its head. In The
Man who never laughed
the artist has struck
a pretty vein of his
own and one he would do
well to cultivate. Inimit-
able as a study of charac-
ter is this glimpse of the
Early Victorian coulisse.
The louche, blear-eyed
waiter fingering his
money is a study in him-
self, and suggests that
Mr. Kay Nielsen might
give us, if he were so
minded, another and
vastly entertaining Early
Victorian “ Rake’s Pro-
gress.” Will he try ? His
success would be a fore-
gone conclusion.
“FELICIA LISTENING TO THE HEN’S STORY”: ILLUSTRATION TO “THE POT OF
PINKS.” BY KAY NIELSEN
(By courtesy ot Messrs. Hodder Stoughton and Messrs. Ernest Brown 6° Phillips)
I25