Emil Nolde 1867-1956

Lithograph printed in black, grey-blue and acid yellow, 1926, signed in pencil by the artist, inscribed In dieser Fassung ein Druck, the only recorded impression in this colour combination, one of only 25 impressions of this subject (Schiefler-Mosel records seven known colour variations), probably printed at the Westphalen print-shop, Flensburg, on smooth buff thin wove paper, with margins, in good condition apart from a printer's crease in the lower left of image, the blue possible slightly attenuated, slight paper discoloration around the edges of the sheet (the margins unevenly trimmed)

Mühle am Wasser is a superb example of Emil Nolde's evocative and highly creative approach to colour lithography. Having experimented greatly with lithography in 1913, he had now mastered the technique of superimposing thin layers of translucent ink on top of one another in order to create a new colour. Here, the pale blue has been overprinted with bright yellow to create the lime green of the landscape and the clouds. "Nolde then printed some of them in an astonishing variety of colours. He sought to create new colour relationships that he likened in musical terms to tonal chords whose reverberation evokes specific emotions" (Victor Carlson in Nolde the Painter's Prints, Museum of Fine Art, Boston, p.294).

The subject matter of the windmill was of great importance to Nolde. As described in the exhibition catalogue of the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, at the time, the windmills were in danger of being eradicated by the Danish Government drainage projects. Nolde was vehemently opposed to this project and the change it would bring to the North Schleswig landscape. Images of the windmill also appear in many of his paintings from the same period as in Mühle, 1924 (see reproduction below).

As mentioned in the cataloguing, Mühle am Wasser is one of 25 impressions printed in one of seven known colour combinations. "Except for the latter prints, no editions properly speaking exist for any of Nolde's 1926 lithographs. The 1926 lithographs were characteristically printed in a wide range of colour variations; no more than twenty-eight were printed for a single work" (Victor Carlson in Nolde the Painter's Prints, Museum of Fine Art, Boston, p.54).