Emil Nolde


Nolde, Emil

 

(pseudonym of E. Hansen). Born Aug. 7, 1867, in Nolde, northern Schleswig, present-day Denmark; died Apr. 15, 1956, in Seebüll, Holstein, Federal Republic of Germany. German painter and graphic artist.

From 1885 to 1889, Nolde attended the School of Wood Carving in Flensburg (Schleswig-Holstein). He continued his studies in Munich, Dachau (Bavaria), Paris, and Copenhagen. From 1892 to 1898, Nolde taught at a technical school in Sankt Gallen in Switzerland. He was one of the leading masters of expressionism. From 1905 to 1907 he was a member of Die Brücke.

Nolde’s paintings, most of which have religious themes, combine elements of the fantastic and the real and are characterized by mystical exaltation. Nolde endeavored to emphasize the tension and inner drama of his subjects by greatly distorting natural forms and using contrasting combinations of patches of light-saturated colors. His works include the altarpiece The Life of Christ (1911–12; the Nolde Museum, Seebüll) and the triptych The Legend of St. Maria Aegyptica (1912; Kunsthalle, Hamburg). Nolde also painted landscapes. He was a watercolorist and sculptor.

WORKS

Pis’ma. [Preface and translation by B. A. Zernov.] In Mastera iskusstvo ob iskusstve, vol. 5, book 2. Moscow, 1969. Pages 97–104.
Briefe. Edited by M. Sauerlandt. Berlin, 1927.
Jahre der Kämpfe. Berlin, 1934.

REFERENCES

Tikhomirov, A. N. “Ekspressionizm.” In Modernizm. Moscow, 1973. Pages 21–22.
Fehr, H. E. Nolde. Cologne, 1957.
Selz, P. E. Nolde. New York, 1963.
Emil Nolde… Ausstellung. Cologne, 1973. (Exhibition catalog.)