JAIS NIELSEN
(Danish, 1885-1961)
STILL-LIFE WITH ROSES AND A QUIMPER PLATE
Oil on canvas
25.6 x 17 Inches
Signed Lower Right

Born in 1885 in Copenhagen, Johann Knud ‘Jais’ Nielsen began his studies at Kristian Zahrtmann’s art school in 1899 and exhibited for the first time at Copenhagen’s Autumn Salon in 1907. He also exhibited with the “Group of Thirteen,” some of whom had been students with him at the Zahrtmann School. Nielsen’s concentration on the human figure, and especially on movement, was unusual in Denmark at that time. His forms became increasingly simplified in the early years (1907-1911) and his vivid use of color, like the Fauves, whose work he had seen in reproductions, was a significant departure from the subdued coloration of nineteenth-century Danish painting.
In 1911, Neilsen moved to Paris and settled in the Latin Quarter near the Musée Cluny. Beginning in 1912, he exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in Paris. Though he attended meetings of the Section d’Or, which met at Jacques Villon’s studio, he remained relatively isolated from the other Cubist painters however Cubist influences may be clearly identified in his work of the period 1911-14. In 1914, Neilsen moved back to Copenhagan and took with him the modernist principles that he had absorbed in Paris. Sports, dance and the circus were recurrent themes and he continued to paint in the early Cubist tradition. His precocious modernism however, was not well received by the Danish critics and, in 1920 he began to concentrate on ceramics, becoming world-renowned for his work with the Royal Copenhagen porcelain company. Neilsen was the only Danish artist to be represented in the important Futurist exhibition, “Futurismo & Futurismi” in Venice, Italy (1986) and he is increasingly recognized as a seminal figure in early European Modernism. Jais Nielsen’s work is highly sought after at auction and may be found in the permanent collections of major European museums. We are pleased to offer this exceptional still-life that shows this early modernist at the height of his powers.

Reference:

Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Vol. X, p. 213; Thieme-Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kunstler, Vollmer Supplement, Vol. XXV/XXVI, p. 465; Davenport’s Art Reference Guide, 2007/8 Edition, p. 1733; Weilbach, Dansk Kunstnerleksikon; Bo Lindwall and Lars Erik Aström in: Bild art in Scandinavia, Vol. 4, 1973, 50, 74; Hanne Abildgaard: New then. Art Hist., Vol. 6, 1994; et al.