Emil Nolde - Männerbildnis (Selbstbildnis)
Emil Nolde
Männerbildnis (Selbstbildnis)
Circa 1916-1920
Watercolour and reed pen drawing on handmade laid paper with watermark (two tulips in a circle). 49 x 30.3 cm. Framed under glass. Unsigned. - Fine, colour-fresh condition, with two studio-related creases and inconspicuous marginal defects.
With Emil Nolde’s “Männerbildnis”, a watercolour unusual for its size and highly expressive colours is coming up for auction. The circumstances of Nolde’s life around 1916/1917 and the distinct, individual features suggest that it represents a self-portrait of the painter. In this picture Nolde has captured the slender head, with its high hairline, and the upper torso using broad, sometimes overlapping strokes of bold watercolours in blue, green, yellow and a red which adds an accent. The fields of colour have been applied to the paper without preliminary drawing – only afterwards did Nolde use a reed pen to outline the cheeks, eyes, nose, mouth and left ear. He did not see the passage featuring the shoulders and chest as important for the pictorial effect and has therefore only schematically depicted them.
The portrait, particularly the self-portrait, is a rather rare subject in Nolde’s work: “Painting myself was never enjoyable for me”, he writes in his memoirs (Emil Nolde: Welt und Heimat, Köln 2002, p. 150). However, when he did turn his gaze to himself, there were always exceptional circumstances in his life that demanded a kind of stocktaking from him. Thus, for example, the self-portrait created in 1899 marks the completion of his education in Munich, the images of himself painted in 1907/08 are connected with his first significant successes and, in 1916, Ada and Emil Nolde left the island of Als in order to permanently move to Utenwarf in western Schleswig. The artist’s 50th birthday also provided an occasion for him to reflect on himself: “In 1917, when I became a fifty-year-old, it seemed as though I needed to document this by painting myself […]” (ibid., p. 150). Besides the dating of the 'Männerbildnis' here to precisely this period around 1917, the facial features – with their high forehead and prominent nose as well as the moustache – support an interpretation of the head as a self-portrait. In the sharp chiaroscuro coupled with a penetrating gaze, Nolde confronts viewers with a mixture of intimacy and distance.
Certificate
With an expert report by Martin Urban dated 2 Feb. 1977.
With a confirmation for inclusion in a future catalogue raisonné of the watercolours and drawings by Emil Nolde; according to the expertise by Martin Urban and Manfred Reuther, registered in Seebüll until 2016 (4 Feb. 2025). The work is registered in the Seebüll Ada and Emil Nolde Foundation with the reg. no. Fr.A.364.
Provenance
Galerie Valentien, Stuttgart (label verso); Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
Emil Nolde
Männerbildnis (Selbstbildnis)
Circa 1916-1920
Watercolour and reed pen drawing on handmade laid paper with watermark (two tulips in a circle). 49 x 30.3 cm. Framed under glass. Unsigned. - Fine, colour-fresh condition, with two studio-related creases and inconspicuous marginal defects.
With Emil Nolde’s “Männerbildnis”, a watercolour unusual for its size and highly expressive colours is coming up for auction. The circumstances of Nolde’s life around 1916/1917 and the distinct, individual features suggest that it represents a self-portrait of the painter. In this picture Nolde has captured the slender head, with its high hairline, and the upper torso using broad, sometimes overlapping strokes of bold watercolours in blue, green, yellow and a red which adds an accent. The fields of colour have been applied to the paper without preliminary drawing – only afterwards did Nolde use a reed pen to outline the cheeks, eyes, nose, mouth and left ear. He did not see the passage featuring the shoulders and chest as important for the pictorial effect and has therefore only schematically depicted them.
The portrait, particularly the self-portrait, is a rather rare subject in Nolde’s work: “Painting myself was never enjoyable for me”, he writes in his memoirs (Emil Nolde: Welt und Heimat, Köln 2002, p. 150). However, when he did turn his gaze to himself, there were always exceptional circumstances in his life that demanded a kind of stocktaking from him. Thus, for example, the self-portrait created in 1899 marks the completion of his education in Munich, the images of himself painted in 1907/08 are connected with his first significant successes and, in 1916, Ada and Emil Nolde left the island of Als in order to permanently move to Utenwarf in western Schleswig. The artist’s 50th birthday also provided an occasion for him to reflect on himself: “In 1917, when I became a fifty-year-old, it seemed as though I needed to document this by painting myself […]” (ibid., p. 150). Besides the dating of the 'Männerbildnis' here to precisely this period around 1917, the facial features – with their high forehead and prominent nose as well as the moustache – support an interpretation of the head as a self-portrait. In the sharp chiaroscuro coupled with a penetrating gaze, Nolde confronts viewers with a mixture of intimacy and distance.
Certificate
With an expert report by Martin Urban dated 2 Feb. 1977.
With a confirmation for inclusion in a future catalogue raisonné of the watercolours and drawings by Emil Nolde; according to the expertise by Martin Urban and Manfred Reuther, registered in Seebüll until 2016 (4 Feb. 2025). The work is registered in the Seebüll Ada and Emil Nolde Foundation with the reg. no. Fr.A.364.
Provenance
Galerie Valentien, Stuttgart (label verso); Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
