Ernst Wilhelm Nay
Ohne Titel
1955
Watercolour on grained watercolour paper 41.5 x 60 cm Framed under glass. Signed and dated 'Nay 55' in brown ink lower right. - The margins verso with very narrow, circumferential Japan paper. Very faint browning in former mat opening and a few faint brown spots typical of the watercolour paper used by Nay.
In the years 1954/1955 Ernst Wilhelm Nay realised his transition to the disc as his defining formal element. The disc painting would take on central significance for the viewing and understanding of his work, and it would help the artist to achieve his conclusive breakthrough. While Nay primarily dedicated his attention to oil painting in Germany, he concentrated on watercolours during his holidays, for example, in Italy. Far from his studio, he could completely attune himself to his extraordinary watercolour technique, which demanded a more spontaneous engagement with colour, form and space and enabled him to create works of extreme transparency and weightlessness.
Certificate
We would like to thank Magdalene Claesges and Brigitte Schlüter, Ernst Wilhelm Nay-Stiftung, Cologne, for kind information. The watercolour will be included in vol. III of the catalogue raisonné under the no. 55-045.1.
Provenance
Private collection, Baden-Württemberg
Exhibitions
Mannheim 2006-2018 (Kunsthalle), Permanent loan