A mastery of colour: the avant-garde collection of Nicole Emmerich Teweles

Having fled Nazi-occupied Europe, siblings Nicole Emmerich Teweles and André Emmerich understood the hopeful and transcendent power of art. After settling in the United States, they each became central figures in their local arts scenes, Nici an active patron in the Milwaukee community, and Emmerich a legendary gallerist in New York. 

Upon opening André Emmerich Gallery in 1954, at the height of Abstract Expressionism, Emmerich became a champion of some of the most revered artists of the era. Acting as primary dealer for luminaries such as Helen Frankenthaler, Kenneth Noland and Robert Motherwell, he elevated the emerging movement of Colour Field painting to seismic heights.

‘When André Emmerich opened his eponymous gallery in 1954, the art world was at the peak of Abstract Expressionism,’ says Rachael White Young, Co-head of the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sales at Christie’s. ‘The artists’ emotional turbulence was revealed in their artwork through energetic, often heavy gestures. Soon, with support from Emmerich, these brooding paintings of the 1950s were eclipsed with the vibrant expressions of a group of artists who came to define the new movement of Colour Field. Perhaps no one in the history of art was more instrumental in elevating this movement than Emmerich.’ 

With her brother as a guiding light, Nici, along with her husband Bill, built a collection of influential works that showcased artists who were pioneering innovators of their era. Spanning painting, sculpture and works on paper, the collection showcases the artists who were harnessing their mastery of colour to redefine their mediums. 

The works, hand selected by Nici and Bill, exhibit superb provenance, acquired either from her brother or directly from the artists. With many never before seen at market, these pieces represent the visionary outlook and trailblazing legacy of the Emmerich family, anchored by virtuosos of colour. 

A champion of an emerging movement 

Colour Field painting was a style of abstraction in which artists eliminated the physical and painterly emotion of the Abstract Expressionists and instead focused on colour as a singular means of expression. Emmerich was first introduced to Colour Field painting by his good friend Robert Motherwell, and became a pivotal force in promoting these artists on a global level.

Motherwell was a pioneer of the movement, recontextualising the idea of abstract art with his famous Open series. The series, which he began in 1967, was inspired by a chance moment in his studio when he was struck by the sight of a small canvas leaning against a larger one. He outlined the shape of the small canvas in charcoal, with the resulting shape suggesting an opening at the base of the larger canvas. 

In The Red Wall (1972), part of the ongoing series, Motherwell includes a charcoal shape at the top of a bright red canvas, evocative of a window or door within the wall of red. Using colour to express emotion, the opening in the canvas becomes a metaphor for the internal and external. The bright red is also a nod to Motherwell’s great influence Matisse, whose The Red Studio and abstracted window paintings were foundational influences on his creative practice. Measuring six feet by six feet, the large-scale painting is representative of one of the cornerstones of Motherwell’s expansive oeuvre.

Helen Frankenthaler was another artist interested in the emotional conveyance of colour. Married to Motherwell for over a decade, the two were important influences on one another’s work. Championed by Emmerich before many gallerists were willing to show women artists, Frankenthaler became renowned for her revolutionary soak-stain technique, in which oil paint thinned with turpentine was poured directly onto an untreated canvas. 

Genuine Blue (1970) represents the pinnacle of Frankenthaler’s acclaimed technique. Eschewing paintbrushes and palette knives, she created large expanses of colour by dripping and pouring paint onto the canvas, evoking a sense of depth. Made during a period of intense production for the artist, Genuine Blue also demonstrates the introduction of line into her compositions. Using marker to draw lines throughout the canvas, Frankenthaler was able to suggest a horizon line like that of an abstracted landscape. 

Nici and Bill, who had known Frankenthaler since high school, spied this painting while dining at her home one evening and bought it on the spot. 

Hans Hofmann, whose estate was represented by Emmerich and whom Nici had known since the early 1940s, was one of the most important teachers of abstract art in the United States, as well as a key figure in New York’s post-war art scene. Hofmann taught legends like Jackson Pollock and Frankenthaler, and helped to bridge the European sensibilities of Cubism and Fauvism with the emergence of Abstract Expressionism. 

In Flux No. 4 - A Cycle of Oil Paintings (1962), Hofmann uses expressionistic brushstrokes to paint bright swaths of colour across an Upson board. Leaving large areas of the board visible, he uses paint to evoke special depth and light. ‘My goal in painting,’ he said in 1962, ‘is to create pulsing, luminous and open surfaces, whose colour alone emanates a mystical light, harmonising with my deepest experiences of life and nature.’ Flux No. 4, completed just four years before Hofmann’s death in 1966, is an embodiment of an artist at the height of his creative powers.

Another leading teacher of abstraction was Josef Albers, whose celebrated Homage to the Square series was an early exploration of the artist’s theory of colour. The series, which was carried out over 25 years and encompasses over 1,000 individual works, was born from a mathematical format of several squares nested within one other. 

Homage to the Square: Intrepid (1950) continues Albers’s examination of the way our perception of colour changes when seen in relation to other tones. Comprised of an inner orange square, a surrounding square of green and an outer square of light blue, the orange stands out in bright contrast, drawing the eye towards the center of the canvas.

Having studied under Albers, Kenneth Noland took his teacher’s solid blocks of colour and changed them into solid bands arranged in unusual shapes. Through diamonds, chevrons, circles and more, Noland applies thick strips of colour to fit the geometry of the canvas. Using an unlimited combination of stripes, he creates an optical dynamism that gives the impression of infinity. 

Eschewing the geometric methods of Albers and Noland, Sam Francis merged the theories of the Colour Field painters with the gestural, action-based techniques of the Abstract Expressionists. Wanting to depict, as he stated, ‘the substance of which light is made,’ Francis painted large-scale abstractions reminiscent of the fluidity of Pollock’s drip paintings.

In Untitled (1984), clusters of yellow, orange, purple, black and more explode across the canvas, the background swaths of white highlighting the luminosity of the colours. Included in a 1984 exhibition at Andre Emmerich Gallery entitled Sam Francis: New Work, the painting showcases the later artistic maturity of Francis’s signature style. 

As the 20th century progressed, Emmerich continued his mentorship of innovative artists such as David Hockney, whose oeuvre is an ongoing study of the relationship between light and colour. In Green Pool with Diving Board and Shadow (Paper Pool 3) (1978), Hockney adapts one of his archetypal subject matters – the swimming pool – to the new medium of pulped paper. Part of the larger Paper Pool series, much of which is held in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Green Pool considers the ever-changing quality of water. 

‘Green Pool  is a wonderful exploration of colour,’ says Kathryn Marber, Associate Specialist at Christie’s, ‘and Hockney is an extraordinary colourist.’ In experimenting with the textured quality of pulped paper, Hockney sought to distill the essence of water’s constant motion into a static medium. He highlights the shadow of the diving board and the ripples across the pool’s surface to suggest movement, the paper allowing him to strip the composition down to a simpler form.

Throughout Emmerich’s representation of Hockney, the artist produced some of his most celebrated pieces, including his iconic paintings of California swimming pools. As a nod to his friend, Emmerich commissioned Hockney to paint the floor of the swimming pool at the dealer’s famed sculpture park, Top Gallant, with a design of undulating waves. 

‘Anchored by Frankenthaler’s blue, Motherwell’s red and Hockney’s green, the collection of Nicole Emmerich Teweles is a thesis on colour,’ says Young. Drawing on the personal and professional relationship of her brother with these artists, Nici curated a cutting-edge collection that highlights the collective power of the esteemed colourists of the 20th century.