Ernst Wilhelm Nay

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Nay in his Hofheim studio in 1948
Nay in his studio in Hofheim, 1948

Ernst Wilhelm Nay (born June 11, 1902 in Berlin , † April 8, 1968 in Cologne ) was a German painter and graphic artist of classical modernism. He is considered one of the most important painters of German post-war art .

biography

Nay came from a Berlin civil servant family. He was born the second son of six children. His father Johannes Nay fell as a captain in Belgium in 1914. Nay completed his humanistic school education in 1921 with the Abitur at the Pforta State School in Thuringia. His first attempts at painting date from this time and his interest in art grows. In the same year, Nay began an apprenticeship as a bookseller in the Berlin bookshop Gsellius, which he broke off after a year. He then got by with odd jobs and began painting self-portraits and landscapes.

With three of his autodidactically painted pictures ("Portrait of my mother", 1924, WV 3; "Portrait of Ruth", 1924, WV 4 and "Portrait of Franz Reuter", 1925, WV 6) he presented himself to Karl Hofer (1878–1955 ) in 1924 ) at the University of Fine Arts in Berlin . In his “Regesta zu Leben und Werk”, recorded in 1958, Nay recalls: “One Sunday I took these three pictures to Hofer and showed them to him. He was very enthusiastic about the portrait of the young man and decided that I should give it to the academy exhibition on Pariserplatz, the spring exhibition. It was the best modern exhibition in Berlin at the time. ”Hofer recognized Nay's talent, found him a scholarship and accepted him into his painting class. At the university, Nay met his future wife Helene (Elly) Kirchner (1901–1986), who worked there as a model. He finished his studies in 1928 as Hofer's master class student. In the same year, Nay makes his first study trip to Paris.

In 1930 the art historian Carl Georg Heise (1890–1979) arranged a grant for Nay to stay on the Danish island of Bornholm, where he created the so-called "beach pictures". A year later he received a grant from the Prussian Academy of the Arts for a nine-month stay at the German Academy (Villa Massimo) in Rome, where small-format, surrealistic-abstract pictures were created. In 1932 Nay married Elly Kirchner. In the following year he took part in the exhibition "Lebendige Deutsche Kunst" in the galleries Alfred Flechtheim and Paul Cassirer. In a hateful article by the National Socialists in the “Völkischer Beobachter” from February 25, 1933, his picture “Lovers” (1930, WV 86) was mocked as a “masterpiece of meanness”. During summer stays in 1935 and 1936 on the Baltic Sea in Vietzkerstrand (Pomerania), large-format reed pen drawings were created, the so-called "fisherman drawings" and later in the studio the so-called "thin and fisherman pictures". In 1937 two of his oil paintings (“Fishing Boats on the Harbor Mole”, 1930, WV 81 and “Fishing Village Teju on Bornholm”, 1930, WV 83) were shown in the exhibition “Degenerate Art”. Through the mediation of CG Heise, Nay receives financial support from the painter Edward Munch (1863–1944), which enabled him to travel to the Norwegian Lofoten, where he painted large-format watercolors. The so-called “Lofoten Pictures” (1937–1938) were later created based on the motifs of these watercolors in the Berlin studio.

At the end of 1939 Nay received the draft notice. First he came to the south of France as an infantryman, then to Brittany. In 1942 he was transferred to Le Mans as a cartographer . There Nay experiences another ambivalence in his life situation. He, who is ostracized in his own country as a "degenerate" painter, experiences here in occupied France a beneficial willingness to help, friendship and unexpected appreciation of his painting by French intellectuals. Here he also met the amateur sculptor Pierre de Thérouanne, who made his studio available to him and even procured painting materials. During these years he created some smaller oil paintings and especially works on paper: “The war came, finally I drew a bearable lot, became a cartographer on a staff. Corporal. I never got anywhere, I was too unmilitary. I was even able to paint in France at times. Watercolors, gouaches and later also pictures were created. Happy paintings came to light, far removed from all day-to-day and war issues and yet not idyllic. ”In May 1945 Nay was released by the Americans after a short imprisonment. Because his Berlin apartment, which also served as his studio, had been destroyed in a bomb attack in 1943, he moved to Hofheim / Ts. and through the mediation of the collector and art dealer Hanna Bekker vom Rath (1893–1983) was able to move into a small studio house.

Here, from 1945 to 1949, Nay created the so-called “Hekatebilder”, which were followed from 1949–1951 by the “Fugalen Bilder”. In 1946 he had met Elisabeth Kerschbaumer, the assistant to his gallery owner Günther Franke, in Munich, whom he married in 1949 after a mutual divorce from his first wife Elly. In 1950 the artist's first retrospective took place at the Kestner Society in Hanover. A year later he moved to Cologne, which remained the center of his life until his death in 1968. In 1953 he drew an abstract film ("A Melody, Four Painters", director: Herbert Seggelke) together with Jean Cocteau, Gino Severini and Hans Erni. The "Rhythmic Pictures" (1952–1953) were also created during this time.

In the artist's best-known pictures, the so-called "disc pictures" (1954–1962), the circular shape of the disc in all variations became the dominant motif. The most prominent example of this is the “Freiburg picture” (2.55 × 6.55 m) from 1956, which Nay painted as a mural for the Chemical Institute of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. In a letter to Werner Haftmann dated August 13, 1960, Nay wrote: “The 'Freiburg image' is the image after the time of structure as drawing, after the time of structure as matter, after the time of structure of monochrome, this primeval stage of Structure as color. This is my art, my painting, my thing [...] "

In 1955, Nay published his manifesto-like book "Vom Gestaltwert der Farbe" (The Design Value of Color). During this time, his work soon found international resonance: the first solo exhibition was shown in the USA in 1955, and a year later Nay presented his “Scheibenbilder” as a solo exhibition in the German pavilion at the Venice Biennale. He took part in the first three documenta exhibitions documenta I (1955), II (1959) and III (1964) in Kassel. In 1960, the German art historian Werner Haftmann (1912–1999) published the first comprehensive Nay monograph, which was created in close contact with the artist. Between 1963 and 1964 Nay developed the so-called "eye pictures". The so-called “documenta pictures”, which were 4 × 4 m in size and were presented hanging from the ceiling during documenta III (these three pictures), also originated from this work phase at the suggestion of the then documenta director Arnold Bode (1900–1977) are now on permanent loan from the Federal Chancellery in Berlin). Starting in 1965, Nays created the “Late Pictures”, on which the artist worked until the end of his life. In 1968, Nay completed the designs for the “ceramic mural” in the Karlsruhe nuclear research center, which, however, was only realized posthumously. The last painting “White-Black-Yellow” (WV 1303) was created at the beginning of April. Shortly afterwards, Nay died of heart failure at the age of 65 in his Cologne house. He was buried in the Melaten cemetery in Cologne (hall 43).

plant

The following explanations are mainly based on the introductory texts for the various work phases of Elisabeth Nay-Scheibler in the catalog raisonné of the oil paintings.

Early Pictures (1922–1933)

Ernst Wilhelm Nay, "Elchkopf", 1933, oil on canvas, 81 × 70 cm, WV 139
Ernst Wilhelm Nay: Elk Head , 1933, oil on canvas, 81 × 70 cm, WV 139

Nay's early pictures show self-taught landscapes and portraits of his immediate surroundings, in which the influences of Henri Matisse (1869–1954) and his teacher Karl Hofer can still be recognized. The painting “Portrait of Franz Reuter” (WV 6) from 1925, “the picture in which Nay became aware that he was a painter, has a special place . “Already at this time it is noticeable that Nay is not interested in naturalistic or psychological description, but rather looks for what is actually picturesque. His attachment to abstraction is already visible in the details of the pictures. During his nine-month stay in Rome in 1931/32, Nay barely had any eyes for the “classical” art of this city, but instead began to work on peculiarly surreal, small-format still lifes with larvae, shells or worms (“Large mussel with men”, 1932, WV 110; "Fliehende Wurmer", 1932, WV 128). In his “Regesta zu Leben und Werk” he recalled this time: “[...] In 1931/32 I was at the German Academy in Rome, angry because I was crammed with the relics of humanistic education when I was at school [...] ]. I painted surreal, formal pictures, but I did paint my own pictures that could be incorporated throughout my art. "

Pictures of dunes and fishermen (1934–1936)

With his mythical animal pictures, which were created around 1934 and precede the “Dune and Fisherman Pictures” (“Weißer Stier”, 1934, WV 148; “Mandrill”, 1934, WV 153), Nay is looking for a new way of creating images. Animal shapes alienated by black lines are often accompanied by simple symbolic forms, such as the circle as a sun and moon sign. Inspired by summer stays on the Baltic Sea, where he leads a simple life with the fishermen, Nay recognizes an archetype of dynamism in the constant ups and downs of the waves ("Dünenlandschaft", 1935, WV 175). Even in prehistoric times, the wavy or serpentine line with its alternating upward and downward swinging arches was a sign of the eternal movement of death and rebirth. Quite unspeculatively - based on pure intuition - Nay transfers this form of movement to images of dunes and nocturnal sea (“Nocturnal Sea”, 1935, WV 182). Nay prepares his so-called “dune and fisherman pictures” in numerous large-format reed pen drawings that translate the entry and exit of the boats and the activities of the fishermen into free line art. These also show a strong dynamic, which is expressed in the movement of the swell, but also in the contrasting verticals of the boat masts and sails ("Ostseefischer I", 1935, WV 189). The figures of the fishermen are very abstract; their spherical or triangular heads show only a single point-shaped eye in the middle.

Lofoten Pictures (1937–1938) and pictures from 1939

With the beginning of the National Socialist rule, Nays life situation deteriorated considerably. His pictures were defamed as "degenerate" and he was banned from exhibiting. He was also no longer allowed to buy work materials (canvases, paints, etc.). In addition to the material worries of these years, there were also emotional stresses that resulted primarily from the lack of contact opportunities. CG Heise helped out of this depressing situation by arranging for Nay two stays in the Norwegian Lofoten, which were of great importance for Nay's artistic development: “The bizarre formations of the mountains and fjords, the crystal-clear light, the shadowless colors of the far north and the The primeval world of fishermen and whalers did not fail to have an effect on Nay. Here he found himself facing a nature that largely corresponded to his own. With this experience, his approach to color completely broke up [...]. ”What is particularly noticeable is the change in color compared to the previous works of the“ Lofoten Pictures ”. Nay chooses expressive colors and places z. B. instead of clouds, strongly colored spots in the skies of the landscapes, which in conjunction with the other colors of the picture cancel out the spatial background effect of the sky ("Lofotenlandschaft", 1937, WV 218; "Menschen in den Lofoten", 1938, WV 226) . The almost always occurring people are dissolved into rhythmic-dynamic abstractions ("People in the Lofoten", 1938, WV 240). As abstract figures, they become expressive color signs, with landscape and figure appearing as equal elements of the chromatic image design.

France pictures (1940-1944)

Most of the works from the French era show thematically legendary scenes in which abstract figures appear to be integrated into a supra-personal, tragic or euphoric event. The titles, such as “Eduards Tod I – IV” (1943, WV 311-314) or “Der Engel” (1944, WV 323), also reflect the simultaneity of nearness to death and fullness of life. The peculiarly designed head shapes and the eyes marked as closed by a line are reminiscent of skulls ("Liegende", 1943, WV 316). This contrasts with the harmonious, warm coloring of these pictures, in which Nay now for the first time chooses yellow as the dominant color and often combines it with light red, which gives him a bright, lively color tone. In order to bridge the spaces between his intensely colored and dense picture compositions, which otherwise appear in perspective, he invents a motif of alternately repeating checkerboard patterns; a design element that he will continue to use later. Nay writes in his “Regesten”: “Those pictures from the war were actually something unique in my art. They arose from personal experiences that I clung to because I couldn't understand anything else, a constellation that never existed in my art. "

Hecate Pictures (1945–1948)

From 1945, in Hofheim / Ts., The numerous works of the so-called "Hecate period" were created. Located in the field of tension between a figurative motif that can barely be recognized and an almost entirely abstract design, these works mark a new stage of development in Nay's work, in which both are reflected: the tragedy of the recent past and the budding hope of those first years after the war. Ernst Gosebruch (1872–1953) coined the term “Hekate-Bilder” with reference to Nay's painting “Daughter of Hekate I” (1945, WV 337), of which Nay also made a second, smaller version (“Daughter of Hekate II”) , 1946, WV 366). Significantly, there is no daughter of Hecate - a sorceress, moon goddess and goddess of death from pre-Greek cults - in Greek mythology. This is an alienation or invention of Nay, as well as the overall titles from this period of work, in which ancient or biblical themes are often hinted at, are not portrayed or even illustrative, but are to be understood as “a metaphorical bridge” to his encrypted motifs. Nay's changed style of painting during this time is also striking: the application of paint becomes more pastose and for many of his paintings Nay now chooses a significantly darker palette. Looking back, he wrote about these works himself: “Very strong formal ideas came to the fore, which were combined with mythical-magical ideas. Pictures, painted thickly, which from year to year, the older they get, the more beautiful they become. Wherever I meet them, I am delighted. But I am a person of the present, whom the present also determines in his life. "

Fugal Pictures (1949–1951)

While the “Hekate-Bilder” still showed Nay's processing of the war and first post-war years, his “Fugalen Bilder” seem like a new beginning in his art. Nay's second marriage in 1949 also changed his personal life situation. In the summer of 1949 he created a series of ten color lithographs in Worpswede (published by Michael Hertz in Bremen). This technique forces him to break down his formal vocabulary into its components, which stimulates Nay to transform his painting formally: Clearly contoured loops, often accompanied by points and triangular shapes, now determine the pictorial motifs and solve the mythical forms of the Hecate pictures from. The titles of this series of images, which often contain the word “Figurale” (“Figurale-Odaliske”, WV 477, “Figurale-Jota”, WV 500), indicate that despite progressive abstraction, the human remains the subject of these works . Since they oscillate between abstraction and representationalism even more than the “Hekate pictures”, they remained largely misunderstood by the public.

Rhythmic Images (1952–1953)

At the end of 1951, Nay moved to Cologne, which was still marked by war damage, and moved into an attic apartment there on Wiethasestrasse in Cologne-Braunsfeld. He reacts to this change from a rural domicile to the urban, lively upheaval situation in the large Rhenish city with a new, now completely non-representational image design. Even under the influence of musical stimulation (Cologne was already known for its important concerts of new music) now pictures are created in which the clear contours of the "Fugal Pictures" dissolve in a violently moving rhythm that breaks down into smaller, more spontaneous and gestural forms expresses set color forms, which are usually accompanied by black line structures. The musicality of these images is reflected in their titles: “Vokalklang” (1952, WV 604), “Silbermelodie” (1952, WV 600) or “Black Rhythms, Red to Gray” (1952, WV 629). Looking back at this time, Nay wrote in 1962: “I was particularly interested in the absolute tone setting and the often extensive negative forms of Webern's music. That was around 1950. The compositions of serial and punctual music were added later. Next to Dallapiccola and Nono, Boulez impresses me most. This because of his extensive work in electronic music, the technology of which I got to know here in Cologne. "

Disc paintings (1954–1962)

Ernst Wilhelm Nay, "Lob des Grün", 1961, oil on canvas, 240 × 190 cm, WV 992
Ernst Wilhelm Nay: In Praise of Green , 1961, oil on canvas, 240 × 190 cm, WV 992

In what is probably his best-known, longest and most successful creative period to date, Nay made the round shape of the disk - in all its variations - the main motif of his painting, which he now increasingly reflects theoretically. In 1955 he published his work “Vom Gestaltwert der Farbe”, in which he laid out the basics of his “first system” of “punctiform placement” of color. How Nay discovered the “disk” as a central design element, he describes himself as follows: “So I started with very harmless new experiments and found: If I go with a brush on the canvas, there is a small blob, I enlarge it, then I have a disc. Of course, this disc does a lot on the surface. If I add other panes, the result is a system of at least colored and quantitative proportions that can now be combined and further assembled into larger picture complexes. ”After Nay had initially combined the panes with graphic elements, from 1955 they became the sole motif and From today's point of view, the “classic” works of this period are created. From 1957/58 he changed the external appearance of his panes by first making their contours more open and softer ("Rondo", 1958, WV 871), then developing them more out of the circular movement of the brush ("Chorisch Grau", 1960, WV 971) and finally begins to “strike through” with sometimes violent gestures (“Ekstatisches Blau”, WV 990, 1961). This was based on the fact that Nay felt that he had to “open up” or “overcome” the system of punctual placement of color, which he had up until then strictly maintained, in order not to get stuck in a “modern academy of painting”.

Eye pictures (1963–1964)

The spontaneous crossing of the panes led Nay to discover the eye motif around 1962/63, which, as a further development of the "pane", now determines the visual occurrence of the so-called "eye pictures" for two years ("Augen", 1964, WV 1092). In view of the “opening” intended by the artist, it is significant that with this motif of the “eye” something visibly reminiscent of people appears for the first time in years . This original theme, which unites looking and being looked at and promises magical powers and spellbinding defense in archetypal symbols, but also symbolizes light and spiritual awareness, means a huge challenge for Nays completely non-representational image design. But he does not renounce the association of the magical aura of this figurative form, but rather balances the effect of the large-scale eye shapes in his pictures with an extremely moving, abstract formal language, which he incorporates into a passionately unfolding chromaticism. Nay brings all the registers of a strongly contrasting color scheme, as well as the emphasis on delicate-light and dark-colored contrasts, into this dialogue and thus increases the vitality and freedom of his image design. But despite the newly won and spirited painterly freedom, the details and the overall conception of these pictures have a controlled order. In public, Nay's new and unusually expressive pictures were perceived as ambivalent. The three “documenta pictures” from 1964 (WV 1121, 1122 and WV 1123) were discussed in the so-called “documenta controversy” and led to some violent polemics against Nay.

Late Pictures (1965–1968)

Ernst Wilhelm Nay, "Rotfiguration", 1968, oil on canvas, 162 × 150 cm, WV 1301
Ernst Wilhelm Nay: Rotfiguration , 1968, oil on canvas, 162 × 150 cm, WV 1301

From 1965 Nay took a final turn in his work: he abandoned the “monostructure” of the “disc shape” as the dominant design element and developed his “second system” of colored “strings”, for which not only a different painting style (the paint application became fluid and even), but above all an expanded and formally very clear repertoire of forms is characteristic. Precisely outlined spindle shapes ("Spindel - Rot", 1967, WV 1260), chains of round or oval disks ("Red Chain", 1965, WV 1180) and arched shapes ("With dark gray arch shape", 1966, WV 1208) and Ribbons of color, often with associations reminiscent of the organic. In the last pictures even "figurative" formations, some even reminding of the shape of the human being, appear, whereby in these pictures, according to Nay, a new "hitherto unknown representation of human beings" lying beyond the overcoming contrast "abstract versus real" or a " new visual image of the human being ”. Beyond the contrast between “abstract” and “real”, with these works Nay finds a new, quasi third image form, which he himself describes as “elementary”, in which the central theme of his art - man - in a completely new way returns to the picture. In his last essay, “Meine Farbe”, published by himself, he wrote in 1967: “It is worth a lifetime to penetrate so far that the real color image can emerge and the color sounds so that the human can be seen without the artist's particular intention. Human and creature in a new, unknown formulation. "

The written estate has been in the archive for fine arts at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum since 1979. In September 2005, the Ernst Wilhelm Nay Foundation , based in Cologne, was established to look after and manage Nay's artistic legacy.

High prices on the art market

The prices obtained for works by Ernst Wilhelm Nay at international auctions often vary greatly. In May 2011, the large-format painting “Chromatic Discs” (1960, 190 × 340 cm, WV 976) fetched 750,000 euros (915,000 euros with buyer's premium).

In May 2014 the oil painting “Composition A” (1953, 100 × 120 cm, WV 650) was auctioned by the Cologne auction house Van Ham for 204,800 euros (including buyer's premium). The small-format painting “Bathing Women” (1939, 47 × 70 cm, WV 277) found a new owner at the online auction house Auctionata the year before .

In December 2017, the painting “Panes and Half Panes” (1955, 120 × 161 cm, WV 745) at Ketterer Kunst in Munich set a new world record with 2,312,500 euros. In May 2018, the auction house Christie's, New York auctioned the 162 × 130 cm disc painting "Eisblau" (1961, WV 999) from the famous "Collection Peggy and David Rockefeller", which achieved a hammer price of 1,452,500 USD.

Awards and honors

In 2002, Deutsche Post issued a special postage stamp on the occasion of his 100th birthday.

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 1946: EW Nay , Gallery Gerd Rosen, Berlin
  • 1950: EW Nay (retrospective), Kestner Society, Hanover
  • 1955: Ernst Wilhelm Nay , Kleemann Galleries, New York
  • 1956: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. German Pavilion , 28th Venice Biennale, Venice
  • 1959: EW Nay (retrospective), Art Association for Rhineland and Westphalia, Düsseldorf
  • 1964: I. International of Drawing. Special exhibition Ernst Wilhelm Nay , Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, Darmstadt
  • 1964/1965: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Paintings 1955–1964 , Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg / Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe / Frankfurter Kunstverein Steinernes Haus, Frankfurt a. Main
  • 1969: EW Nay (retrospective), Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne / Nationalgalerie, Berlin / Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt a. Main / Art Association in Hamburg, Hamburg
  • 1970: EW Nay. Pictures from the years 1935–1968 (retrospective), Museum Städtische Kunstsammlungen, Bonn
  • 1976: Nay. Un Maestro del Color. Obras the 1950 a 1968 , Museo de Arte Moderne, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
  • 1980: EW Nay. Pictures and documents (retrospective), Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg / House of Art, Munich / Bayer-AG Erholungshaus, Leverkusen / Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen a. Rhine / New Gallery, Kassel
  • 1985: Pictures come from pictures. EW Nay 1902-1968. Paintings and unpublished writings from four decades , Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld / Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster / Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg
  • 1990/1991: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Retrospective , Museum Ludwig in the Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle, Cologne / Kunsthalle Basel, Basel / Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
  • 1998: Ernst Wilhelm Nay , Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam / Gemäldegalerie Neue Meister, Dresden / Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum, Duisburg
  • 2002/2003: EW Nay. Variations. Retrospective for the 100th birthday , Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich / Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn
  • 2009: EW Nay. Pictures from the 1960s , Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt a. Main / Haus am Waldsee, Berlin
  • 2010: Scheibenbilder, Galerie Thomas, Munich
  • 2012: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. The polyphonic picture. Gouaches, watercolors, drawings, Kunstmuseum Bonn / Museum Liner Appenzell / Mönchehaus Museum Goslar
  • 2013/2014: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Pictures , Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Cologne
  • 2016: NAY 1964 , Aurel Scheibler, Berlin
  • 2017/2018: Ernst Wilhelm Nay , Almine Rech Gallery, London
  • 2018: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. 1948–1951 , Jahn and Jahn, Munich
  • 2019: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Works on paper , Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne

Works in museums (selection)

  • Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Museum Liner, Appenzell, Switzerland
  • Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland
  • National Gallery Berlin
  • Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, IN, USA
  • Art Museum Bonn
  • Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
  • Albright-Knox-Gallery, Buffalo, NY, USA
  • Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, MA, USA
  • The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, USA
  • Folkwang Museum, Essen
  • Sprengel Museum, Hanover
  • Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, USA
  • Museum Ludwig, Cologne
  • Tate Modern, London, UK
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
  • The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
  • Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, Norway
  • Center Pompidou, Paris, France
  • Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
  • The Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, MO, USA
  • State Gallery Stuttgart
  • Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation, Vienna, Austria

Selection of literature (chronological)

  • Werner Haftmann : Ernst Wilhelm Nay . Cologne 1960
  • Fritz Usinger: Ernst Wilhelm Nay . Recklinghausen 1961
  • Karlheinz Gabler: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. The prints 1923-68. Stuttgart 1975
  • Nay - drawings . Jahrhunderthalle Hoechst, Hoechst 1976 (exhibition catalog)
  • Archive for fine arts at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg (Hrsg.): EW Nay. Pictures and documents. Munich 1980
  • EW Nay - drawings . Municipal Museum Leverkusen, Morsbroich Castle, Munich 1981 (exhibition catalog)
  • Aurel Scheibler: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Catalog raisonné of the oil paintings. 2 vols., Cologne 1990
  • Ernst Wilhelm Nay - Lofoten Pictures. In honor of Carl Georg Heise (1890–1979). Overbeck Society Lübeck, Lübeck 1990 (exhibition catalog)
  • EW Nay. Retrospective . Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle / Kunsthalle Basel / Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Cologne 1991
  • Siegfried Gohr: EW Nay. Postcard book with introduction, chronology, picture explanations and selected bibliography , Dortmund 1992
  • Ernst Wilhelm Nay. The Hoffheim years 1945–1951 . Municipal gallery in the Städel, Frankfurt a. M. / Museum of Fine Arts Leipzig, Frankfurt a. M. 1994 (exhibition catalog)
  • Ralph Köhnen: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Pythagoreans - "radar thinkers". In: artist. Critical lexicon on contemporary art . Edited by Lothar Romain, Detlef Bluemler. Edition 48, issue 30, 4th quarter 1999, pp. 1–16
  • EW Nay. Watercolors, gouaches, drawings . Art gallery in Emden / Saarland Museum Saarbrücken, Ostfildern-Ruit 2000 (exhibition catalog)
  • Magdalene Claesges (-Bette): The birth of the elementary image from the spirit of abstraction. Attempt to interpret the theoretical writings of Ernst Wilhelm Nay . Cologne 2001 (dissertation)
  • Ernst Wilhelm Nay. The printmaking. Kunstverein Göttingen / Municipal Art Museum Spendhaus Reutlingen, Göttingen 2001 (exhibition catalog)
  • EW Nay. Reading book. Personal reports and writings 1931–1968 . Edited by Magdalene Claesges, Cologne 2002
  • Siegfried Gohr, Johann Georg Prince of Hohenzollern, Dieter Ronte: Nay - Variations. Retrospective for the 100th birthday . Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich / Kunstmuseum Bonn, Cologne 2002
  • Guido Reuter: At the crossroads of Hecate. Ernst Wilhelm Nays' Hekate-Bilder and the discussion about abstract painting after 1945 in Germany , Düsseldorfer Kunsthistorische Schriften Vol. 4, Düsseldorf 2002.
  • Friedrich Weltzien: figure and body image . Berlin 2003
  • EW Nay. Watercolors and gouaches. Graphic Collection Munich / Museum Folkwang Essen / Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg, Cologne 2004 (exhibition catalog)
  • Dirk Schwarze: The Art of Staging or When Arnold Bode lifted Ernst Wilhelm Nay into the sky . Series of publications by the documenta archive, vol. 18, Berlin 2009
  • Ingrid Pfeifer, Max Hollein (Ed.): EW Nay - Pictures of the 1960s. Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt 2009 (exhibition catalog)
  • Ernst Wilhelm Nay Foundation (Ed.): Ernst Wilhelm Nay. The polyphonic picture. Gouaches, watercolors, drawings . Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn 2012 (exhibition catalog)
  • Magdalene Claesges: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Catalog raisonné. Watercolors, gouaches, drawings. 3 vols., Ostfildern-Ruit 2012–2018
  • Jean-Paul Stonard, Pamela Kort (eds.): Ernst Wilhelm Nay . London 2012
  • Ernst Wilhelm Nay . Michael Werner Kunsthandel Köln, Cologne 2012 (exhibition catalog)
  • Franziska Müller: Ernst Wilhelm Nays 'On the Design Value of Color' as an artist's theory and contemporary testimony . Baden-Baden 2016, ISBN 978-3-8288-3841-3
  • Ernst Wilhelm Nay . Almine Rech Gallery, London 2018 (exhibition catalog), ISBN 978-2-930573-25-0
  • Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Late Paintings 1965–1968. Galerie Aurel Scheibler, Berlin 2019 (exhibition catalog), ISBN 978-3-96098-722-2
  • Ernst Wilhelm Nay Foundation Cologne (ed.): Ernst Wilhelm Nay and the modern age. Cologne 2020, ISBN 978-3-96098-787-1

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Magdalene Claesges: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Catalog raisonné. Watercolors, gouaches, drawings . Ed .: Ernst Wilhelm Nay Foundation, Cologne. B. 1. Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7757-2194-3 , p. 14-17 .
  2. ^ Siegfried Gohr, Johann Georg Prince of Hohenzollern, Dieter Ronte (ed.): Nay - Variations. Retrospective for the 100th birthday . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7195-9 , pp. 40 .
  3. ^ Archives for fine arts at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg (ed.): EW Nay. Pictures and documents . Prestel-Verlag, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-7913-0499-2 , pp. 264 .
  4. ↑ Werner Haftmann: EW Nay . Extended new edition edition. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-7701-2737-4 , p. 20-23, 33 .
  5. ^ Magdalene Claesges: EW Nay. Reading book. Personal reports and writings 1931–1968 . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7146-0 , p. 169 .
  6. ↑ Elly Nay: A brilliant white. My time with EW Nay . Self-published, Berlin / Cologne 1984, p. 7 .
  7. ↑ Ingrid Pfeiffer, Max Hollein (ed.): EW Nay - pictures of the 60s . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-7774-6065-9 , pp. 115 .
  8. ↑ EW Nay. Retrospective . DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1990, ISBN 978-3-7774-6065-9 , p. 193 .
  9. ^ Aurel Scheibler: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Catalog raisonné of the oil paintings . Ed .: Museum Ludwig, Cologne. B. 1. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-7701-2271-2 , p. 50 .
  10. ^ A b Aurel Scheibler: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Catalog raisonné of the oil paintings . Ed .: Museum Ludwig, Cologne. B. 1. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-7701-2271-2 , p. 51 .
  11. ^ Ernst Wilhelm Nay Foundation (Ed.): Ernst Wilhelm Nay. The polyphonic picture. Gouaches, watercolors, drawings . Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7757-3433-2 , p. 158 .
  12. ^ Elisabeth Nay-Scheibler, Michael Semff (eds.): EW Nay. Watercolors and gouaches . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-8321-7410-9 , p. 206 .
  13. ↑ Elly Nay: A brilliant white. My time with EW Nay . Self-published, Berlin / Cologne 1984, p. 113 .
  14. ↑ Ingrid Pfeiffer, Max Hollein (ed.): EW Nay - pictures of the 60s . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-7774-6065-9 , pp. 117 .
  15. ^ Aurel Scheibler: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Catalog raisonné of the oil paintings . Ed .: Museum Ludwig, Cologne. B. 1. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-7701-2271-2 , p. 198 .
  16. ^ Siegfried Gohr, Johann Georg Prince of Hohenzollern, Dieter Ronte (ed.): Nay - Variations. Retrospective for the 100th birthday . DuMont Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7195-9 , p. 49-50 .
  17. ^ Magdalene Claesges: EW Nay. Reading book. Personal reports and writings 1931–1968 . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7146-0 , p. 176 .
  18. ↑ Werner Haftmann: EW Nay . Extended new edition edition. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-7701-2737-4 , p. 114 .
  19. ↑ Klaus Gallwitz (Ed.): Ernst Wilhelm Nay. The Hofheim years 1945–1951. Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit 1994, ISBN 3-7757-0493-0 , p. 167 .
  20. ↑ Elly Nay: A brilliant white. My time with EW Nay . Self-published, Berlin / Cologne 1984, p. 187 .
  21. ^ Archives for fine arts at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg (ed.): EW Nay. Pictures and documents . Prestel-Verlag, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-7913-0499-2 , pp. 155-157 .
  22. ^ Magdalene Claesges: EW Nay. Reading book. Personal reports and writings 1931–1968 . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7146-0 , p. 198 .
  23. ^ Ernst Wilhelm Nay: On the design value of color - surface, number and rhythm . Prestel-Verlag, Munich 1955.
  24. ↑ Werner Haftmann: EW Nay . M. DuMont Schauberg publishing house, Cologne 1960.
  25. ↑ Dirk Schwarze: The Art of Staging or When Arnold Bode lifted Ernst Wilhelm Nay into the sky . Siebenhaar Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-936962-78-9 , pp. 18-19 .
  26. ^ The mural by Ernst Wilhelm Nay in the casino of the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center . Self-published, Karlsruhe 1969.
  27. ↑ EW Nay. Watercolors, gouaches, drawings . Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit 2000, ISBN 3-7757-9024-1 , p. 154 .
  28. ^ Aurel Scheibler: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Catalog raisonné of the oil paintings . Ed .: Museum Ludwig, Cologne. 2 volumes. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1990.
  29. ^ Magdalene Claesges: EW Nay. Reading book . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7146-0 , p. 169 .
  30. ↑ Werner Haftmann: EW Nay . Extended new edition edition. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-7701-2737-4 , p. 20 .
  31. ^ Archives for fine arts at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg (ed.): EW Nay. Pictures and documents . Prestel-Verlag, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-7913-0499-2 , pp. 58 .
  32. ^ Aurel Scheibler: Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Catalog raisonné of the oil paintings . Ed .: Museum Ludwig, Cologne. tape 1 . DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-7701-2271-2 , p. 154 .
  33. ^ A b Magdalene Claesges: EW Nay. Reading book . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7146-0 , p. 177 .
  34. ↑ Klaus Gallwitz (Ed.): Ernst Wilhelm Nay. The Hofheim years 1945–1951 . Verlag Gerd Hatje, Ostfildern-Ruit near Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-7757-0493-0 , p. 70 .
  35. ^ Museum Ludwig, Cologne (ed.): Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Catalog raisonné of the oil paintings . B. 1. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-7701-2271-2 , p. 294 .
  36. ^ Magdalene Claesges: EW Nay. Reading book . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7146-0 , p. 226 .
  37. ^ Magdalene Claesges: EW Nay. Reading book . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7146-0 , p. 246 .
  38. ^ A b Siegfried Gohr, Johann Georg Prince of Hohenzollern, Dieter Ronte (Ed.): Nay - Variations. Retrospective for the 100th birthday . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne, ISBN 3-8321-7195-9 , pp. 26 .
  39. ^ Magdalene Claesges: EW Nay. Reading book . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7146-0 , p. 208 .
  40. ^ Archives for fine arts at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg (ed.): EW Nay. Pictures and documents . Prestel-Verlag, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-7913-0499-2 , pp. 251-260 .
  41. ^ Magdalene Claesges: EW Nay. Reading book . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7146-0 , p. 303 .
  42. ^ Magdalene Claesges: EW Nay. Reading book . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7146-0 , p. 316 .
  43. ^ Magdalene Claesges: EW Nay. Reading book . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7146-0 , p. 310 .
  44. ^ Magdalene Claesges: EW Nay. Reading book . DuMont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-8321-7146-0 , p. 297-298 .
  45. ↑ Top surcharges in online auctions. In: auctionata.de. Archived from the original on January 19, 2014 ; Retrieved June 25, 2014 .
  46. ^ Artist database Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Van Ham, accessed June 10, 2014 .
  47. ↑ Lot 576. The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller. Christie's, accessed March 30, 2019 .
  48. ^ Galerie-Thomas.de: Ernst Wilhelm Nay.
personal data
SURNAME Nay, Ernst Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH June 11, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1968
Place of death Cologne