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Lot Essay
Rendered in paintings, watercolours, graphic works or ceramics, Dance is not related to a particular moment in Emil Nolde's career but has been one of his continuing fascinations.
The hysterical gestures of the character in Tanzerin find their origin in the Expressionistic Dance introduced in Germany by Isadora Duncan and the Jugendstil. Nolde was also very interested in the work of the Australian dancer Saharet whom he once saw and described as "wild and whirling in her turns, and her streaming black hair suggested some fantastic primeval creature" (quoted in W. Haftmann, 'Emil Nolde,' New York, pl. 12)
In Paris, Nolde saw Loie Fuller, renowned for her ample steps under colourful changing lightning and later he was inspired by his close friend Mary Wigman's experimental and instinctive dance.
Nolde was indeed not particularly interested in the fancy ballrooms but in the exalted bodily expression of the inner soul: "the solo dance, the art dance," as he defined it.
Tanzerin is one of the fantastical images stimulated by the artist's experience of the dance in which he looked for rapt and complete surrender. The frenetic and undulated body movements of the figure evoke the movement and form of fire, rendered in contrasts of burning violet, orange and yellow colours. The painting also calls to mind the frenzied dancers who are the subject of a series of celebrated oil paintings such as Kerzentanzerinen (candle dancers), 1912, that he executed between 1909-1914.
Tanzerin also embodies Nolde's inclination for the primordial and spontaneous themes and characters, for which he looked on his 1926 journey in the South Seas. Many of the artist's sketchbooks from Java and Burma display native dancers performing comparable expressions and attitudes to the vibrant figure in this work.
The hysterical gestures of the character in Tanzerin find their origin in the Expressionistic Dance introduced in Germany by Isadora Duncan and the Jugendstil. Nolde was also very interested in the work of the Australian dancer Saharet whom he once saw and described as "wild and whirling in her turns, and her streaming black hair suggested some fantastic primeval creature" (quoted in W. Haftmann, 'Emil Nolde,' New York, pl. 12)
In Paris, Nolde saw Loie Fuller, renowned for her ample steps under colourful changing lightning and later he was inspired by his close friend Mary Wigman's experimental and instinctive dance.
Nolde was indeed not particularly interested in the fancy ballrooms but in the exalted bodily expression of the inner soul: "the solo dance, the art dance," as he defined it.
Tanzerin is one of the fantastical images stimulated by the artist's experience of the dance in which he looked for rapt and complete surrender. The frenetic and undulated body movements of the figure evoke the movement and form of fire, rendered in contrasts of burning violet, orange and yellow colours. The painting also calls to mind the frenzied dancers who are the subject of a series of celebrated oil paintings such as Kerzentanzerinen (candle dancers), 1912, that he executed between 1909-1914.
Tanzerin also embodies Nolde's inclination for the primordial and spontaneous themes and characters, for which he looked on his 1926 journey in the South Seas. Many of the artist's sketchbooks from Java and Burma display native dancers performing comparable expressions and attitudes to the vibrant figure in this work.