82.54 Head of a Woman (Frauenkopf)

c. 1924

Watercolor, 17 1/2 x 13 3/8" (44.5 x 34 cm)

Signed, lr: Nolde

Exhib: "German Expressionism," Milwaukee Art Institute, December 10, 1954-January 27, 1955, nr. 88

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82.54 Head of a Woman (Frauenkopf)

c. 1924

Watercolor, 17 1/2 x 13 3/8" (44.5 x 34 cm)

Signed, lr: Nolde

Exhib: "German Expressionism," Milwaukee Art Institute, December 10, 1954-January 27, 1955, nr. 88

Head of a Woman (Frauenkopf)  c.1924

According to his own account, Nolde began to work seriously in watercolor in 1908.  It remained ever after his preferred medium, for it suited his preference for “intuitive,” spontaneous creativity rather than carefully planned compositions based on preliminary drawings.  Color was Nolde’s primary means of expression, and watercolor allowed a tonal saturation of the paper whereby colors blended into one another.  The artist, in fact, experiments with different kinds of paper to arrive at the desired coloristic effect.  Nolde rarely dated his watercolors, and it is difficult to make any stylistic distinctions that would aid in a chronological ordering of his works.  This study of a woman’s head is one of many Frauenkopfe  that he painted throughout his life.  The lines here are slightly crisper, less fluid, than his earliest studies, which may indicate a date in the 1920s.  The contrast of rich blues and greens of the dress against the pale surface of the face and the saturated black of her hair demonstrates Nolde’s characteristic approach to color.