Johannes Knud Ove Jais-Nielsen was a Danish painter, designer and ceramist, best known for the religious figure groups that he designed for the Royal Copenhagen pottery.
Nielsen studied painting at the Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler under Kristian Zahrtmann and Johan Rohde, but abandoned the academic style under the influence of modern art that he saw on his study trips. Nielsen made several excursions to important art centres, travelling to Berlin and Paris. In 1920 he travelled to Italy, where he took a particular interest in the Renaissance art. Nielsen's art was influenced by the Cubism that he encountered in Paris. His paintings developed angular lines and fragmentation which, as in his early masterpiece Afgang, show a tendency towards Futurism. His paintings are predominantly of figures in motion and represent a wide range of subjects, including the circus, a subject which had inspired many avant-garde painters, including Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec and Picasso. His work Circus Performance. Acrobats depicts trapeze artists soaring weightlessly through the air. His trip to Italy in 1920 was the inspiration for monumental works such as Brylluppet i Kana. He also painted landscapes on Bornholm in a style resembling that of the other Bornholm painters. From 1915 Nielsen created sculptures in the Cubist style. From 1921 to 1928 he was employed as a sculptor by the Royal Copenhagen porcelain factory, for whom he produced a series of ceramic sculptures on Biblical subjects which included the Good Samaritan and several versions of Jacob wrestling with the Angel. His sculptures were widely applauded and, for a time, their fame overshadowed that of his paintings. As well as statuettes, Nielsen produced ceramic wares in a wide range of shapes and monochrome glazes including celadon, ironstone and oxblood glaze. These pots are decorated with figures, mainly in relief but also engraved or painted, generally representing Biblical subjects. According to Ulla Grut"The resulting figures, for example 'The Potter', have a vigour of modelling and monumental effect that overrides the boundary between painting and sculpture." Jais Nielsen decorated some of the Danish bookbinder August Sandgren's vellum bindings in water colour.
Exhibitions
In 1909 and 1910 Nielsen joined the group of socially oriented artists known as De Tretten, exhibiting with them in 1909 and 1910. He later participated in modern art trends in Denmark but did not join the Danish artists' cooperativeGrønningen.
