A collection of Hans Christian Andersen‘s best loved fairy tales is here illustrated with the magnificent Art Nouveau colour illustrations of Kay Nielsen. This was a project that took Nielsen 12 years to complete, and his illustrations perfectly capture the other-worldly spirit of the subject matter.
Many of the earliest children’s books, particularly those dating back to the 1850s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive.
About the Illustrator: Kay Nielsen (1886-1957) was a Danish illustrator of the golden age of illustration. He was influenced by Japanese art and the Swedish fairy tale illustrator John Bauer and contributed to the Art Nouveau movement. His illustrations are bold, and vibrant – often reproduced by a 4-colour process which set him apart from his contemporaries who typically used a 3-colour process. His art is characterised by long, swooping lines, open spaces and a certain macabre quality and his ephemeral illustrations are intricately inventive, flirting with implausibility.
