(Above: Emil Nolde, ‘Nadja,’ 1919)

“Nadja” – A Picture with a Turbulent history

• 1919 Emil Nolde paints “Nadja”. Nolde himself erroneously entered in his own 1930 inventory of his paintings on p. 30 “Dr. Walther Rathenau, Berlin” as its first owner.

• From the 1920s “Nadja” was owned by Dr. Ernst Rathenau, a distinguished art publisher and collector who lived in Berlin-Charlottenburg until 1938.

• 1928 “Nadja” was publicly shown only once: at the exhibition mounted by the Berlin National-Galerie devoted to “Neuere Deutsche Kunst aus Berliner Privatbesitz”. “Dr. Ernst Rathenau, Berlin-Charlottenburg” was listed as the owner.

• 1938–1944 Dr. Rathenau was forced to emigrate to the US, leaving “Nadja” behind in Berlin. His secretary saved the painting from the clutches of the National Socialists by depositing it for safekeeping in a vault at the Berlin banking house Merck Fink & Co. Thus “Nadja” miraculously survived the air raids against the city and confiscation by the Red Army.

• After 1945 Dr. Rathenau returned frequently to Germany and when he did, he stayed in Bad Nauheim, often at Hilberts Parkhotel, where he died on January 24, 1986.

• “Nadja” was then kept in storage by a storage and removals firm in Freiburg/Breisgau.

• Between October 1977 and September 1979, “Nadja” disappeared mysteriously from a compartment at the storage removals firm.

• 1979 After noting the loss, Dr. Rathenau placed an advertisement in the art journal Weltkunst requesting information on the missing painting.

• 1990 Professor Dr. Martin Urban drew up the inventory of Emil Nolde’s works, entering “Nadja” under No. 830 but listing its whereabouts as “unknown”.

• Summer 2006 An art collector who prefers to remain anonymous discovered “Nadja” in the attic after the suicide of his daughter, who had probably played a role in the disappearance of the work. He handed over the portrait of “Nadja” to the police via an intermediary. Two police inspectors from the LKA Baden-Württemberg had the painting authenticated by Dr. Manfred Reuther, Director of the Ada und Emil Nolde Stiftung in Seebüll.

• April 2007 Ketterer Kunst was commissioned by representatives of Dr. Ernst Rathenau’s heirs to sell “Nadja” at auction.

Source: Ketterer Kunst, http://bit.ly/118GGOx

Kees van Dongen (French & Dutch, 1877-1968)

Kees van Dongen, Femme au fond blanc, 1910–14, Oil on Canvas.

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Carter H. Harrison Collection, 1946.48© 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893 – 1983)

Joan Miró, Spanish, Stone, 1955, Earthenware.
© 2013 Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Exhibition History

• London, Tate Gallery, Joan Miró, August 27-October 11, 1964, traveled to Kunsthaus Zurich, October 31-December 6, 1964, cat. no. 219.
• New York, Pierre Matisse Galerie, Miró-Artigas. Terres de Grand Feu, November 12–December 7, 1985, cat. no. 25.
• Barcelona, Museu de Ceràmica, Miró Ceramista, shown at Palacio de la Virreina, April 22–August 31, 1993, p. 78 (ill.).
• Toronto, The George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Miró: Playing with Fire, September 6, 2000-January 16, 2001, cat. no. 18.

 

Publication History

• Joan Punyet Miró and Joan Gardy Artigas, Joan Miró, Josep Llorens Artigas, Ceramics. Catalogue raisonné, 1941-1981, (Paris, 2007), p. 221, cat. no. 263 (ill.).

Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Aurore à Saint-Paul (Dawn at Saint-Paul), 1968

 Marc Chagall, Aurore à Saint-Paul (Dawn at Saint-Paul), 1968, color lithograph

 

With the beautiful white moon setting so the day can began, and the lovers still enjoying each others company, it’s as if the viewer is captured in the moment. With the town resting in the background and donkey ready to take them back, the couple appears hesitant, as if they don’t want to leave. Caught in the glow of the moonlight and each other, they are in love which Chagall masterfully expresses in this dreamlike imagery.

Full of expression and warm emotional imagery, the line quality in this work is extremely textured with a turbulent gestural quality creating movement throughout the work allowing for a more organic composition than seen in Chagall’s other works. I personally enjoy this crayon like effect of the different brush strokes as it adds a sense of softness and rawness to the work that allows for it to take on a deeper meaning.  

 

Source:  Mastworks Fine Art. Marc Chagall: Historical description of Aurore à Saint-Paul (Dawn at Saint-Paul), 1968.  Retrieved from http://bit.ly/Zam1t9

Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Aurore à Saint-Paul (Dawn at Saint-Paul), 1968

 Marc Chagall, Aurore à Saint-Paul (Dawn at Saint-Paul), 1968, color lithograph

 

With the beautiful white moon setting so the day can began, and the lovers still enjoying each others company, it’s as if the viewer is captured in the moment. With the town resting in the background and donkey ready to take them back, the couple appears hesitant, as if they don’t want to leave. Caught in the glow of the moonlight and each other, they are in love which Chagall masterfully expresses in this dreamlike imagery.

Full of expression and warm emotional imagery, the line quality in this work is extremely textured with a turbulent gestural quality creating movement throughout the work allowing for a more organic composition than seen in Chagall’s other works. I personally enjoy this crayon like effect of the different brush strokes as it adds a sense of softness and rawness to the work that allows for it to take on a deeper meaning.  

 

Source:  Mastworks Fine Art. Marc Chagall: Historical description of Aurore à Saint-Paul (Dawn at Saint-Paul), 1968.  Retrieved from http://bit.ly/Zam1t9

Fernand Leger, Three Women, 1921

“Three Women is an example of Leger’s smooth forms, created with machine-like solidity and a precision reminiscent of technology. In the tradition of classical images of female nudes, the three women recline in a chic apartment, sipping their drinks. The bodies of the women have been simplified into clean forms of smooth shapes, their smooth skin polished like metal. After serving in World War I, in which he was badly injured, Leger hoped that technological advances and the machine age would cure the chaos unleashed by the war. His quasi-mechanical shapes exemplify his intent to use art as a representation of the possibilities of the machine age.”  (Courtesy Wikipaintings.org) 

Emile Bernard (1868-1941), The Entrance to Asnieres, the Haywagon, 1886

Emile Bernard was a post-impressionist French painter & architect, who forged close artistic alliances with Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Eugene Boch, and later, Paul Cezanne.

Marc Chagall, The Angel at the Gates of Paradise, 1956 – http://bit.ly/ZN9MVy

Pablo Picasso, Visage aux yeux rieurs (Laughing-eyed Face), 1969

Medium: White earthenware clay turned pitcher with decoration in engobes (blue, green, red, white) under partial brushed glaze

“Picasso defines his subject with recessed lines and applications of color under a partial brushed glaze, adding an element of texture and shine to this already mesmerizing piece. There is something truly hypnotic about this work, as Picasso draws us in with his swirling lines and bold, gestural strokes.”

Source: Masterworks Fine Art, Pablo Picasso: Visage aux yeux rieurs, http://bit.ly/10x4L4y