Art (1945-contemporary) > Abstract Art Post-War Ernst Wilhelm Nay - Biography

Ernst Wilhelm Nay
1902 - 1968
Lots Weib. 1947.
Brush and India ink and pencil.
Inscribed “37 (circled) Nay: Ink brush 1949; (Frau und Häuser; Dieses Blatt ist von E. W. Nay; Elisabeth Nay” on the reverse by Elisabeth Nay-Scheibler. On wove paper. 50.8 x 57 cm (20 x 22.4 in), the full sheet.
[MH].
• The work was created in the early postwar period—a phase of artistic renewal and stylistic reorientation for Nay.
• The interplay of ink brush and pencil creates a tension between spontaneous gesture and constructive planning.
• Previously exhibited on several occasions, including at the Städtische Galerie im Städel, Frankfurt am Main.
• Study for the oil painting of the same name (CR no. 397)
• Nay is one of the most important representatives of abstract art in Germany.
We are grateful to Dr. Brigitte Schlüter, Ernst Wilhelm Nay Foundation, Cologne, for her kind assistance.
PROVENANCE: Galerie Herbert Meyer-Ellinger, Frankfurt am Main (1991).
Private collection, Frankfurt am Main.
Galerie Terminus, Munich.
Private collection, Southern Germany (since the 2000s, acquired from the above).
EXHIBITION: E. W. Nay. Zeichnungen, Städtisches Museum Schloß Morsbroich, Leverkusen, March 26–May 10, 1981, cat. no. 41 (illustrated on p. 37; titled there as “Frau und Häuser II”).
Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Die Hofheimer Jahre 1945–1951, Städtische Galerie im Städel, Frankfurt am Main, Feb. 24–May 23, 1994; Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, June 9–Aug. 21, 1994, cat. no. 95.
LITERATURE: Magdalene Claesges, Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Catalogue Raisonné. Aquarelles - Gouachen - Zeichnungen, vol. 1: 1919–1948, Ostfildern 2012, CR no. 47-210 (illustrated).
In good condition. Slightly soiled overall. There are a few small handling- and crease marks along the edges, as well as some slight isolated creases in the paper.
For information concerning the condition, please view the high resolution image / backside image.