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Lot Essay
Emil Nolde and his wife Ada travelled to German New Guinea in 1913–1914 as part of a government-funded scientific expedition, motivated less by the primitivist search for an alternative mode of life associated with artists such as Gauguin or Pechstein than by a sustained artistic and ethnographic inquiry. This was so much the case that “In 1916 the German Colonial Office bought 50 of Nolde’s watercolours as a demographic record, despite their stylistic boldness and Nolde’s Romantic response to the New Guinea peoples” (J. Lloyd, ‘Nolde [Hansen], Emil’, in J. Turner, ed., The Dictionary of Art, London, 1996, vol. 23, p. 186). Indeed, he had spent a great deal of time in the years running up to his trip in the Ethnological Museum of Berlin, acquainting himself with the native implements which had been brought from Guinea.
During his time in New Guinea, Nolde’s production, predominantly watercolours and drawings, was characterised by a directness and immediacy of observation. His figures are often presented frontally, defined by bold contours and heightened colour, reflecting both the intensity of personal encounter and a heightened sensitivity to cultural difference. Nolde's own writings reveal a close attention to physical appearance and bodily adornment, as can be seen in Bildnis einer Südseeinsulanerin (en face), and the resulting head studies of 1913–1914 rank among the most powerful and enduring images of his South Seas period.
Nolde saw the demise of the native cultures in Africa as lamentable, writing, “Sometimes I have the feeling that only they (the Guineans) are real human beings, but we are … artificial and full of conceit.”(Mein Leben, p. 274). This idea of the proximity of the Guineans to an untainted state of humanity drew Nolde to making the present work’s striking portrait, self-proclaimedly throwing the subtle and societal delicacy of the Salons by the wayside. As such, Nolde actively aims to portray those remnants of the native culture which remain, providing an urgency to this focused work.
During his time in New Guinea, Nolde’s production, predominantly watercolours and drawings, was characterised by a directness and immediacy of observation. His figures are often presented frontally, defined by bold contours and heightened colour, reflecting both the intensity of personal encounter and a heightened sensitivity to cultural difference. Nolde's own writings reveal a close attention to physical appearance and bodily adornment, as can be seen in Bildnis einer Südseeinsulanerin (en face), and the resulting head studies of 1913–1914 rank among the most powerful and enduring images of his South Seas period.
Nolde saw the demise of the native cultures in Africa as lamentable, writing, “Sometimes I have the feeling that only they (the Guineans) are real human beings, but we are … artificial and full of conceit.”(Mein Leben, p. 274). This idea of the proximity of the Guineans to an untainted state of humanity drew Nolde to making the present work’s striking portrait, self-proclaimedly throwing the subtle and societal delicacy of the Salons by the wayside. As such, Nolde actively aims to portray those remnants of the native culture which remain, providing an urgency to this focused work.