Sale: 432 / Modern Art I, June 11. 2016 in Munich Lot 321

 

321
Emil Nolde
Drei Halbfiguren mit gelbem Haar und blauer Kleidung, Um 1931.
Watercolor
Estimate:
€ 40,000 / $ 43,200
Sold:
€ 47,500 / $ 51,300

(incl. surcharge)
Drei Halbfiguren mit gelbem Haar und blauer Kleidung. Um 1931.
Watercolor and India ink drawing.
Signed lower right. On Japon. 17.8 x 13 cm (7 x 5.1 in), the full sheet.
Mounted on a blank page of the monography: Emil Nolde. Das eigene Leben. Berlin 1931, Copy no. "29" from the numbered de-luxe edition, book format: 22.5 x 18 cm (8.9 x 7.1 in).
Watercolor with unusually well-preserved and strong colors.
Accompanied by a photo expertise issued by Prof. Dr. Manfred Reuther from 15 August, 2013. The watercolor is registered at the Ada and Emil Nolde Foundation, Seebüll.

PROVENANCE: Private collection (obtained as present from the artist).
Private collection Berlin (inherited from aforementioned).

The unusually fresh colors of this watercolor are owed to the book in which it was well preserved. With little exposure to light, the work gives the observer an idea of the original color blaze of Nolde's watercolors. The three depicted heads that are so close to one another are an example of one of Emil Nolde's preferred compostion schemes. Whether it is flowers, figures or portraits, Nolde liked depicting them in this three-way combination, compact and dominant. Despite its small size, the composition's denseness, also in terms of the intense colors, almost emanates the impression of a painting, which Nolde presumably attempted but did not follow up in his later work. However, this sheet counts among the gems in the artist's oeuvre of watercolors, as it conveys an authentic expression that other watercolors from these days had to surrender to the light. [KD]



321
Emil Nolde
Drei Halbfiguren mit gelbem Haar und blauer Kleidung, Um 1931.
Watercolor
Estimate:
€ 40,000 / $ 43,200
Sold:
€ 47,500 / $ 51,300

(incl. surcharge)