The Enchanted World of Jessie M. King

A Scottish artist who deserves to be better known, Jessie King (1875-1949) conjures a ravishing world dimly lit by the ancient Celtic past. Forlorn princesses with multiple haloes, fairies, elves and recurrent motifs like the ``ship of dreams'' might seem passe, but King's imaginative power and amazing facility of line lift her best pictures beyond her time and place, beyond the genre of Art Nouveau, into a timeless, idealized mirror-world. This stern minister's daughter married the painter Ernest Taylor and divided her time between Paris, Scotland and the Scottish island of Arran. King's strong, color-ink townscapes, her illustrations for Oscar Wilde's books and her Paris sketches are memorable. She also brought an exquisite touch to jewelry, ceramics, fabric design and postcards, all on display in this lavish biographical tribute by British art historian White. (Sept.)