Emil Nolde (1867-1956) Red Blooming Cacti (Epiphyllum Lovibi...

Estimate

£25,000 - £35,000

Emil Nolde (1867-1956) Red Blooming Cacti (Epiphyllum Lovibia), signed lower right, watercolour on Japanese long fibred paper, 47 x 35.5 cm (SH), frame by Alfred Hecht (1907-1991) 76 x 64 cm This painting has been authenticated by the Stiftung Seebüll Ada und Emil Nolde and will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of watercolours and drawings by Emil Nolde. A copy of the certificate signed by Dr Christian Ring and Dr Astrid Becker will be included. Provenance: Private collection, Shropshire, inherited by the current owner in 1963 and subsequently valued for family asset division in 1968 by Lord Westmorland at Sotheby's. The painting is believed to have been sourced by art dealer Dr Hermann Burg (1878-1946) for the family in the early 1940s. Notes: Emil Nolde (1867-1956) was a German-Danish painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionist artists and an important figure in German Expressionism. Nolde was renowned for his intense and masterful use of colour, drawing his inspiration from the landscapes, flora and folklore of his surroundings and his home in the rural border between Germany and Denmark. He initially trained as a woodcarver but turned to painting in his thirties becoming associated with Die Brüke and Der Blaue Reiter groups 1908-1910, but Nolde preferred to work as an individual, unencumbered by the influence of others. The artist was supportive of the NSDAP party but the Nazi regime opposed Emil Nolde and banned him from painting. His work was labelled ‘degenerate art’ and 1,025 of his paintings were seized and confiscated by the Nazis. Some of these pieces were included in the infamous ‘Degenerate Art’ exhibition organised by Adolf Ziegler and the Nazis in Munich in 1937. Degenerate Art was defined as works that ‘insult Germany feeling or destroy or confuse natural form’, exhibiting 650 works by 112 artists including; Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Jean Metzinger, Piet Mondrian, Marc Chagall and Wassily Kandinsky. The exhibition attracted huge crowds, over two million visitors attended during its run, averaging 20,000 people per day. Despite being prohibited from working until the fall of the Third Reich, Nolde continued to paint in secret, producing some of his most striking watercolours during this period, asserting his creative freedom.