Emil Nolde

Alfred Hess, Erfurt
Georg Hess, Erfurt (by descent from the above by 1928)
Trude Krautheimer-Hess, New York (by descent from the above)
Richard Feigen, Chicago (acquired by 1956)
Burt Kleiner, Beverly Hills
Sale: Klipstein & Kornfeld, Bern, 8th June 1961, lot 74
Private Collection, USA (purchased at the above sale; sale: Sotheby's, London, 5th February 2008, lot 26)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Frankfurt, Ludwig Schames, Emil Nolde, 1915, no. 26
Dresden, Galerie Arnold, Emil Nolde, 1916
Frankfurt, Ludwig Schames, Emil Nolde - Gemälde, Aquarelle, Grafiken, 1917, no. 24
Hanover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Emil Nolde, Gemälde, Grafik, 1918, no. 42
Munich, Neue Kunst Hans Goltz, Sonderausstellung: Emil Nolde, Gemälde, Graphik, 1918, no. 22
New York, Museum of Modern Art, German Art of the Twentieth Century, 1957, no. 143, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Chicago, Richard Feigen Gallery, Twentieth Century German Art, 1958, no. 19, illustrated in the catalogue
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Emil Nolde, 1963, no. 32, illustrated in the catalogue

Hans Fehr, 'Botho Graef'. Das Kunstblatt, Weimar, 1918, vol. II, no. 2, illustrated p. 347
Max Sauerlandt, Emil Nolde, Munich, 1921, no. 55, illustrated
Peter Selz, German Expressionist Painting, Berkeley & Los Angeles, 1957, no. 130, illustrated p. 484
Alfred Werner, 'Emil Nolde, German Expressionist' in American Artist, Cincinnati, 1963, vol. XXVII, no. 1, illustrated p. 41
Martin Urban, Emil Nolde, Catalogue raisonné of the Oil Paintings 1915-1951, London, 1990, vol. II, no. 667, illustrated p. 57

The canvas is not lined. Examination under UV light reveals no signs of retouching. There is some fine craquelure and some paint shrinkage to the thick impasto. This work is in overall very good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Depicting three Russian men in heavy winter clothing, Drei Russen III was painted in 1915 on the artist's return from Russia to Germany, based on the sketches executed during his travels. Taking on a tradition started by Paul Gauguin, and followed by a number of early twentieth-century artists, Emil Nolde set out to the South Seas in 1913. Having lived in Berlin for many years, and having exhausted the themes of its nightlife in his 1910-13 paintings depicting the cabaret, the theatre, masked balls and cafés of the metropolis, Nolde decided to travel to unknown countries in search of a more 'primitive' lifestyle and new inspiration for his art. In autumn 1913 he accepted an invitation to participate in a 'medical-demographic' expedition sponsored by the German Reichskolonialamt (Imperial Colonial Office), and set out for New Guinea.

The expedition left Berlin on the 2^nd October 1913, and made a brief pause in Moscow before continuing east by the Trans-Siberian railway. The present work is based on a drawing the artist executed on his journey through Siberia in 1913. Nolde described his sketches on this journey ‘I drew and drew with my pen, when we started off, when we stopped, when the train was leaving, when the figures outside were standing around gazing blankly, or trudging sluggishly past. I especially enjoyed going into the waiting rooms to the overflowing masses, picking out figures…sometimes singly, sometimes several together… Sitting in the gloom, feeling the strokes of the pen more than seeing them. And always having to watch out that the train did not depart and leave me sitting in the middle of Siberia drawing and drawing’ (quoted in Emil Nolde, Eye Contact, Early Portraits (exhibition catalogue), Ulmer Museum, Ulm & De Zonnehof-centrum voor modern kunst, Amersfoort, 2005-06, pp. 149-50).

Tilman Osterwold remarked on the innovative language of Nolde's portraits from that period: 'The simplicity of the everyday is the element that really marks Nolde's sphere of experience. This includes the central, substantial question of what the visualisation of human beings actually means. It is on this level of reciprocal challenge that his portraits are built. The simplicity of this concept forms the source for the special that is to be found in ordinary, everyday experience. Nolde's stylistically unprejudiced new path led - from today's perspective - to a unique form of portrait. The eloquence and directness of his compositions creates an inimitable intensity of pictorial and thematic refinement and conceptual intelligence' (T. Osterwold, ibid., pp. 56-57). In its technical execution and bold brushwork, the present work is one of the strongest of a series of four recorded oils of Russian sitters painted at this time.