Kai Nielsen (sculptor)

Kai Nielsen (26 November 1882 – 2 November 1924) was a Danish sculptor.

Biography

Early life and education

Kai Nielsen was born on 26 November 1882 in Svendborg, later famous for creating The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. In 1901 he moved to Copenhagen and took drawing classes to prepare for the Art Academy. When he applied, they rejected his drawings but accepted him into the Sculpture School in view of a portrait bust he had made in Svendborg, and he became a student of Carl Aarsleff. At the Academy he began a lifelong friendship with Einar Utzon-Frank who also studied sculpture. Together they explored the modern collections at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek where Nielsen was particularly impressed by the works of Auguste Rodin and Constantin Meunier.

Career

Nielsen developed a socially conscious style (''The Blind Girl'', 1907, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek). He had his breakthrough with ''Naked'' (1908) which was acquired by the Danish National Gallery. ''The Marble Girl'' attracted attention for its redefinition of the relationship between subject and material with its equal emphasis of the sculpture as woman figure and as stone block. It also introduced the rounded female forms which continued to be a dominant subject throughout his production.

A large portrait bust of Thorvald Bindesbøll erected at Vester Boulevard (now H. C. Andersen Boulevard) in Copenhagen was his first large-scale commission in the portrait genre. It was followed by smaller portrait heads of artist colleagues such as Niels Larsen Stevns and Ludvig Karsten, the boxer Dick Nelson (1918) and more children.

One of Nielsen's first public sculptures, the ''Ymir Well'' from 1913 for a square in Faaborg, was controversial in its own day for the nudity of the jötunn Ymir.

Around the same time he collaborated with the architect Ivar Bentsen on a redevelopment of Blågårds Plads, a public square in one of the poorest working-class neighbourhoods in Copenhagen. His work, executed from 1912 to 1916, consists of 22 granite sculptures integrated in a low wall which encloses a central, rectangular section of the square. The sculptures all portray a person plying a trade—a tailor, a cooper, a baker—accompanied by an abundance of chubby toddlers. The intention was to celebrate the workers and the children of the surrounding community and their everyday lives. It provoked hefty debate and criticism when it was inaugurated but was innovative in its integration of the sculptures in a piece of street furniture and a functional context. The wall was intended for sitting and climbing on, as well as the central space for children's play, and also incorporated a "soapbox" or tribunal for public speaking.

From 1918 to 1920 he created a comprehensive decorative scheme for the Norwegian shipping magnate Anton Fredrik Klaveness's park at Lysaker outside Oslo. Its centrepiece, ''The Water Mother'' ( da, Vandmoderen), features prominently in the winter garden of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek which also holds the original plaster model.

Early death

Kai Nielsen died on 2 November 1924 while working on a draft for a Maritime Monument (1924, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek) after several lengthy spells of illness.

Statuettes

Kai Nielsen also created statuettes which were produced for Bing & Grondahl and H.A. Kähler.

Selected works

Museums

* ''Blind Peasant Girl'', Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (1907)
* ''The Marble Girl'', Danish National Gallery (marble, 1908)
* Naked, Faaborg Museum (1810)
* Leda and the swan, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (limestone, 1918)
* Leda without swan, National Museum of Serbia, Belgrade

Outdoor sculptures

* ''Thorvald Bindesbøll'', H. C. Andersen Boulevard (1909–10)
* Ymir Well, Faaborg (sandstone 1913, bronze 1964)
* Sculptures, Blågårds Plads, Copenhagen (1916)
* ''Århus girl'', Aarhus Central Station, Aarhus (1921)
* ''Mother and children'' (Mor og barn), Frogner Park, Oslo (black granite, 1925)
* ''Venus with the apple'', Enghaveparken, Copenhagen (1929)

Gallery

Image:Ymerbrønden (Faaborg).jpg, Ymir Well, Faaborg
Image:Kai Nielsen statue, Blågårds Plads.jpg, A corner sculpture at Blågårds Plads, 1916
Image:Kai Nielsen,Vandmoderen,Glyptoteket.jpg, ''The Water Mother'' in the winter garden of the Ny Carlsberg Garden
Image:Venus-med-æblet2.jpg, ''Venus and the apple'' in Enghave Park, 1929
Image:Kai Nielsen mor og barn.JPG, ''Mother and children'' (Mor og barn), black granite, in Frogner Park, Oslo, 1925

See also

* Art of Denmark

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Kai
Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni
People from Svendborg
1882 births
1924 deaths
20th-century Danish sculptors
20th-century male artists
Burials at Vestre Cemetery, Copenhagen