Emil Nolde

Wilhem Mayer, Munich (acquired by 1925)
J.B. Neumann, Berlin & New York
Sale: Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett, Stuttgart, November 20-21, 1959, lot 633
Galerie Klihm, Munich (acquired in 1959)
Amadeo Scamperle, Rome 
Galerie Roman Norbert Ketterer, Campione d'Italia (acquired by 1966)
Marlborough Fine Art, London (acquired by 1983)
Acquired from the above

New York, New Gallery, Emil Nolde (1867-1956), 1957, no. 10
Turin, Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Da Boldini a Pollock, 1961, no. 14
Rome, La Medusa, Nolde—Jawlensky, 1961, no. 2, illustrated in the catalogue
Rome, Galleria La Nuova Pesa, Germania 1907-1931, 1963, no. 92, illustrated in the catalogue
Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, Mostra dell'Espressionismo, 1964, no. 433, illustrated in the catalogue
Campione d'Italia, Galerie Roman Norbert Ketterer, Moderne Kunst III, 1966, no. 140, illustrated in the catalogue
New York, Marlborough Gallery, Masters of the 19th and 20th Centuries, 1983, no. 36, illustrated in color in the catalogue
Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 1996, n.n, illustrated in color in the catalogue 

Artist's hand list, 1910 c, no. 419
Artist's hand list, 1930
Martin Urban, Emil Nolde, Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil-Paintings, vol. I, New York, 1987, no. 505, illustrated p. 441
IFAR Journal, vol. 10, no. 3/4, 2008-09, illustrated p. 59

The canvas is unlined and well stretched. The impasto is lively and fresh. There is very minor crazing to the paint layer in the lower right and the upper right quadrants. When examined under UV light, there is an area of retouching to the paint in the upper right quadrant, in the background above the dog's head. There is a further stroke of minor cosmetic in-painting to the lower right quadrant in the background. The surface is clean and the work is ready to hang on the wall. The painting is in 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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Beginning in 1910, Nolde began creating a body of highly challenging work, boldly expressionistic and brilliantly hued, which drew its inspiration from the nightlife of Berlin, reveling in a violent collision of urban life and raw primitive characterization. His evenings where taken up by running the gamut of Berlin’s nocturnal entertainments, in which he “went to masked balls, into cabarets, to the ice rink. And then we went to the public bars where, as pale as powder and smelling of dead bodies, sat impotent princes of the gutter and frantic women of the demi-monde in their elegant, daring clothes, wearing them like queens” (Emil Nolde, Jahre der Kämpfe, Cologne, 1985, p. 147). The atmospheric black and blue tones and the deep red of Figur und Hund evoke late nights spent in the modern and avant-garde city.  

These nightly excursions were paralleled during the daytime with his exploration of the cultural artifacts in the Museum für Völkerkunde. As scholar Peter Selz notes, Nolde’s fascination with people of every culture impelled him to seek first-hand experience of the exotic, “Over the years Nolde’s interest in primitive art had constantly grown more intense. He even hoped to publish a book on the art of indigenous peoples, based on his studies in the ethnological museums. He saw in this art, with its abstract and rhythmic sense of ornament and color and its mythic power, an affirmation of his own anti-classical art… His own "blood and soil" mystique made him an early proponent of the indigenous art of all peoples” (Peter Selz, Emil Nolde (exhibition catalogue), Museum of Modern Art, New York, p. 33). This interest in historical and anthropological artifacts is perhaps no more evident than in the present work, in which the juxtaposition of objects recalls a museum display. A black hound reminiscent of an Egyptian sphinx sits upright in the background of the picture, flanked by a voluptuous doll. This fertility amulet is Anubis, the Egyptian protector of the dead, the cultural importance of whom Nolde would have understood from his study of Egyptian iconography. This appreciation for non-Western art further underscores Nolde’s intellectual innovation. When compounded with his unmatched skill as a colorist, as seen in the present work, his immense importance in not only the German Expressionist movement but also the greater Modernist narrative is undeniable.