Lot Essay
Nolde's association with the lithographic workshop of Westphalen in Flensburg in 1913 marked a turning point in the artist's lithographic work. In the rarified atmosphere of the workshop Nolde was fascinated by the effects of working directly on the lithographic stone and exercised all his painterly skills for the first time in the medium of colour lithography. Over an eight-week period he executed no less than thirteen large-scale compositions employing a variety of colour combinations for each subject. The work culminated in his 'Tänzerin' in which, as he said, he expressed all his passion and joy: 'Die Tänzerin, das letzte der Blätter, sollte Leidenschaft und meine Freude bekunden' (Emil Nolde, Jahre der Kämpfe, M. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne, 1967, p. 261)
Nolde was profoundly stirred by the experience of the dance in which he looked for rapt and total surrender to all the most powerful bodily expressions. he was particularly interested in 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, H. Abrams, Inc., New York, text for plate 12, Candle Dancers).
Frenzied dancing is the subject of some celebrated oil paintings between 1910 and 1914, including 'Tanz um das Goldene Kalb' (M. Urban, Emil Nolde, Catalogue raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Vol I, London, 1987, no. 348), 'Kerzentänzerinnen' (Urban, op. cit. no. 512), and 'Stilleben mit Tänzerinnen' (Urban, op. cit. no. 633). During 1913 Nolde was also actively involved in a pottery workshop in Flensburg where he produced many plates and jugs, often with dancing themes. The composition of one of these shows a striking relationship to the central figure in the present work (Emil Nolde, Jahre der Kämpfe, p. 260, reproduced).
Schiefler records a number of proofs of this print which use between one and five colours in a variety of combinations. He also records (perhaps incorrectly) an edition of 35 in five colours. Impressions in any variety of colours are extremely rare. The pencil strokes to the left of the dancer's skirt seem to indicate an intended future alteration to the work on the stone.
The present example is printed on the reverse of a chart printed at the Westphalen workshop, and is similar in this respect to one of the two impressions of this print in the Stiftung Seebüll Ada und Emil Nolde. Another example in four colours, printed in carmine instead of the pink on the dancer and without any colour in the flame is in the Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies, Los Angeles County Museum (catalogue 2125). A similar example to the latter was sold in these Rooms on 5 December, 1990 (lot 384, reproduced in colour)
Nolde was profoundly stirred by the experience of the dance in which he looked for rapt and total surrender to all the most powerful bodily expressions. he was particularly interested in 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, H. Abrams, Inc., New York, text for plate 12, Candle Dancers).
Frenzied dancing is the subject of some celebrated oil paintings between 1910 and 1914, including 'Tanz um das Goldene Kalb' (M. Urban, Emil Nolde, Catalogue raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Vol I, London, 1987, no. 348), 'Kerzentänzerinnen' (Urban, op. cit. no. 512), and 'Stilleben mit Tänzerinnen' (Urban, op. cit. no. 633). During 1913 Nolde was also actively involved in a pottery workshop in Flensburg where he produced many plates and jugs, often with dancing themes. The composition of one of these shows a striking relationship to the central figure in the present work (Emil Nolde, Jahre der Kämpfe, p. 260, reproduced).
Schiefler records a number of proofs of this print which use between one and five colours in a variety of combinations. He also records (perhaps incorrectly) an edition of 35 in five colours. Impressions in any variety of colours are extremely rare. The pencil strokes to the left of the dancer's skirt seem to indicate an intended future alteration to the work on the stone.
The present example is printed on the reverse of a chart printed at the Westphalen workshop, and is similar in this respect to one of the two impressions of this print in the Stiftung Seebüll Ada und Emil Nolde. Another example in four colours, printed in carmine instead of the pink on the dancer and without any colour in the flame is in the Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies, Los Angeles County Museum (catalogue 2125). A similar example to the latter was sold in these Rooms on 5 December, 1990 (lot 384, reproduced in colour)