W. Keith Nicholson

Like all of the books in Peacock Press' artist series, I am never quite satisfied with the amount of material presented, but I am as ever impressed with the range and subject matter. Most other art-focused publishers tend to rehash the "popular" fine artists (Picasso, Da Vinci, Rembrandt), but of hte four books I've read and own from Peacock Press three of them featured well-thought-of but decidedly niche artists. Kay Nielsen is definitely the least well-known of the three (Arthur Packham and Edmund Dulac) being his companions), since he was popular enough at the time of his publications, but entered the market too late to rise to the heights known by his contemporaries and left book illustrating for work in the theatre and film industry. Yet I'm glad that he was given a feature book and is coming back into teh notice of the populace because his simple and dynamic compositions, Nordic patterning influence, and range of characters and stories are worth noticing. As per usual with these type of books, which don't present a complete range of work, I am sorely pressed to seek out even more reading material, as I have only managed to get my hands on Neilsen's interpretations of East of the Sun, West of the Moon and Stories from Hans Christian Andersen. Ever more to read!… (meer)