KAY NIELSEN, 1886 – 1957, is next to ARTHUR RACKHAM and EDMUND DULAC one of the greatest childrenbook illustrators of the late nineteenth century. he was born in denmark and moved later to california, where he worked from 1938 – 1941 in the disney studio. in FANTASIA he designed most of the NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN and AVE MARIA sequence. below I recreated 3 backgrounds from another sequence in fantasia, BEETHOVEN’S PASTORAL SYMPHONY. as you can see in the following three illustrations by nielsen ( created much earlier for a children book ), he even influenced the look of that part of the film.
© disney enterprises, inc
© nielsen
my name is hans bacher, – I work as production designer in the animation film industry. for the last 40 years I lived and worked in duesseldorf, london, paris, los angeles, manila and tokyo. now I am professor for film-design at the nanyang techn. university in singapore.
I love this blog… Awesome
Have a nice year
I loved your Book, Dream Worlds and I love this blog. It really is a great place to visit, always so inspiring and educative. Thank you!
Nielsen is one of my favorite Disney conceptual artists – his work is gorgeous. A very good friend owns around a dozen Nielsen originals: most are from Fantasia, but he also owns several from The Little Mermaid, one from Sleeping Beauty (the Walt Disney Museum in San Fran owns around 6 or 8 Nielsen Sleeping Beauty pastels) and one executed in ink that was created for Beauty and the Beast. Amazing work to see in person!
The Pastoral Symphony sequence from Fantasia- at least the first and third movements- is, for me, one of the transcendent moments in all of animation. I know about Hubley and others had different ideas and supposedly it got watered down, but those winged horses reflected in the water raise the hairs on the back of my neck. That, and a few other moments, are pure film; a synthesis of the visual and aural senses. Helps to like Beethoven, I suppose…
Nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!