Introducing... Jais Nielsen

From time to time we write a short piece on the work of a particular artist or designer. This month we are looking at the ceramic work of Jais Nielsen.

His Life and Work

Johannes Knud Ove Jais Nielsen (1885-1961) was born in Denmark and started out his work as a painter. He studied under Kristian Zahrtmann at the Kunstnernes Frei Studiesholer from 1899. He held his first exhibition at the Autumn Salon in Copenhagen in 1907. His work also featured in a group exhibition "De Tretten" (The Thirteen) in 1909/10.

It was only after he travelled to Paris, though, in the period from 1911-14 that his modernist style really developed. While there he was introduced to the work of leading avant-garde artists and their styles. He took inspiration from Fauvism for its use of bright colours, Futurisim for is desire to capture movement within a painting, and most of all from Cubism for its use of broken perspective and distinctive style.

While in Paris he largely kept to himself although he did participate in meetings and discussions at Jacques Villons' studio, During his time there his work was exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in 1912.

With the outbreak of World War I in 1914 he returned to Copenhagen and continued with his painting and also started to work with sculpture after 1915. His avant-garde style was well ahead of anything that was being produced in Denmark at the time and he can be credited with being the first person to introduce Cubism to that country. His work was not well received by the critics or the art-buying public of the time and didn't really sell so he had to turn to other means to be able to make a living.

To this end he started to produce designs that were used by the ceramics factories and studios in Denmark. The first of these was Kahler from around 1918. His most significant work, though, was done at Royal Copenhagen from 1920-28. During this time he also did some freelance work for Soholm from around 1922. The are also examples of his work for Bing and Grøndahl from around this time.

He was hired by Royal Copenhagen primarily to produce ceramic sculptures, notably of biblical figures and scenes. Examples included The Good Samaritan, David and Goliath, Judas being struck by lightning. and Jacob wrestling with the Angel. In these pieces he was able to make use of his cubist and futurist influences and although the subject matter was very traditional the style was highly modern in its execution.

Rather than use his whole name he signed his work Jais, as he had previously done on his paintings. As well as producing these sculptures he also made other ceramics such as pots and plaques, often with relief moulded biblical motifs, human figures or more classical subjects but in the style of his sculptures.

His typical method of working was to make the original himself. A mould would then be taken of this so that the design could be put into production and multiple copies made. As the date stamp on the base of these items often dates to after he left the factory and, in some cases, to after his death in 1961, it is clear that many of these popular designs were in production for many years.

As well as producing innovative modernist forms and designs, Jais Nielsen also used many of the novel and exciting glazes that were being used by a range of ceramicists at Royal Copenhagen. Sung, oxblood, ironstone, and celadon glazes were all used. His contemporaries there include Axel Salto, Bode Willumsen, Carl Halier, and Nils Thorsson.

His work really came to prominence at the Paris Exposition of 1925. This is now famous as the exhibition in which the Art-Deco style was first introduced to the world and came to dominate in design for the next decade. Jais Nielsen won a Grand Prix for his design The Potter which shows a relief moulded potter throwing a pot depicted on the side of one,

Jais Nielsen, The Potter, Royal Copenhagen with Sung glaze.

A close-up of the potter shown on the vase.

After Jais Nielsen left Royal Copenhagen in 1928 he went freelance. His most significant collaboration was with the Saxbo studio that had been set up on the site of Patrick Nordstrom's old studio in 1928 by Natalie Krebs and Gunnar Nylund. Jais Nielsen produced designs for Saxbo in their early days in 1928-9 and again in 1933 and 1934-5. The work for Saxbo is similar to the things he produced at Royal Copenhagen though it typically takes the form of bowls, vases and plaques rather than large sculptures.

In many ways his work is unique and quite distinctive. The only other person producing ceramic sculptures of similar quality to Jais Nielsen in Denmark at this time was Jean Rene Gauguin (the painter Paul Gauguin's son) at Bing and Grøndahl. Later Åke Holm would also do something similar at his studio in Höganäs in Sweden as his work also combines biblical themes with a modernist style.

Since Jais Nielsen's death there have been numerous posthumous exhibitions of his art and ceramics and it is now recognised for the important contributions he made to modernism during the Twentieth Century His ceramics are held in museum collections worldwide.

The Works

Below are some examples of his work that we have for sale or have recently sold. These can be found in the Scandinavian Ceramics section on our website. There are also some pictures of typical examples of his marks on both Royal Copenhagen and Saxbo pieces shown at the end.

We start with some pieces designed for Royal Copenhagen.

A small jug with vivid blue glaze depicting harvesters, Royal Copenhagen (sold)

A medium sized plaque showing a potter in relief, Royal Copenhagen.

A small plaque with a head in relief, Royal Copenhagen.

Another small plaque with a head in relief, Royal Copenhagen.

An example of the large Temple Vase. This shows the four Apostles in relief on each side and Jesus on the lid, Royal Copenhagen (sold).

Another vase, with Sung glaze, with figures from the Bible on each side. This appears to be Christ with a lamb. Royal Copenhagen.

Below are some examples of work he designed for Saxbo.

A conical small bowl with a head in relief at the centre. The second picture shows a close-up of the head, Saxbo.

A water pitcher depicting a baptism with the person entering the water on one side and coming out of it on the other, Saxbo.

Another small plaque with a head, this one is for Saxbo.

The Marks

Examples of marks typically found on his work for both Royal Copenhagen and Saxbo.

A Royal Copenhagen mark (three wavy lines) the cypher and the name are used here. Sometimes only the name is included. The is also a model number at the top.

An example of Jais Nielsen's mark on a Saxbo piece. It includes the studio marks, his name and cypher.

haresfur.co.uk

January 2023.

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