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David und Bathseba, 1949
Colour lithograph on wove paper
40 x 44.4 to 46.5 x 60 cm
19/30
Signed, dated and numbered
Provenance:
Private property, Northern Germany
Literature:
Kunst-Stücke: Eine Ausstellung auf Reisen, München - Hannover - Köln, Ausst.-Kat. Galerie Koch, Hannover 2021, S. 30f.
11.06.1902
Born in Berlin
1923
Participation in the evening act at the Berlin School of Arts and Crafts
1925 - 1928
Studies at the Hochschule für Bildenden Künste, Berlin, under Carl Hofer. Subsequent study trip to Paris
1931
Awarded the State Prize (Rome Prize) of the Prussian Academy of Arts, Berlin, combined with a nine-month study visit to the German Academy (Villa Massimo) in Rome
1932
Marriage to Helene (Elly) Kirchner. On his return journey from Rome, he meets the gallery owner Günther Franke in Munich, who from then on champions Nay's art
1934
Acquaintance with Erich Meyer, Alfred Hentzen, Werner Haftmann and Ernst Gosebruch, who was dismissed as director of the Folkwang Museum in Essen by the National Socialists in 1933. Start of the "Dune and Fisherman Paintings" period (1934-1936)
1937
Nay's work is defamed as "degenerate" by the National Socialists in Germany. 10 of his museum-owned works are confiscated and two of them are shown in the "Degenerate Art" exhibition. Carl Georg Heise, dismissed director of the museum in Lübeck, arranges financial support for Nay from Edvard Munch, which enables him to travel to Norway. Nay spends three months on the Lofoten Islands, where he paints large-format watercolours. The so-called "Lofoten pictures" were later created in the Berlin studio. Start of the work period of the "Lofoten pictures and pictures from 1939" (1937-1939)
1938
In winter 1937/38 exhibition at the Holst Halvorsen Gallery in Oslo. There he presents the watercolours he created in the Lofoten Islands. Second trip to the Lofoten Islands, where he again paints watercolours. After his return to Berlin, he creates a series of four woodcuts as well as landscape and figure paintings
1939
Stays with the collector Hanna Bekker vom Rath in Hofheim am Taunus. In Wiesbaden, acquaintance with Alexej von Jawlensky. Journey to Bulgaria, to the Black Sea, which Nay has to cancel due to the outbreak of war.
1940
Nay was called up for military service and served as an infantryman, first in the south of France and then in Brittany (Auray). In his spare time, he paints small watercolours and draws. In order to protect his paintings in Berlin from destruction during the war, he sends most of them to an uncle in Muskau in Upper Lusatia while on leave in Berlin.
1942
Through Hans Lühdorf, Nay becomes a cartographer for a staff in Le Mans. He met the amateur sculptor Pierre de Térouanne, who made his studio available to him and provided him with painting materials. He produced watercolours, drawings, small oil paintings and, for the first time, gouaches.
1943
Destruction of Nay's studio in Berlin. Ernst Jünger visits him in Le Mans. Nay visits Kandinsky on a business trip to Paris.
1945
After the war, Nay moves to Hofheim im Taunus, as his studio in Berlin has been destroyed, and moves into a studio house, which he obtains through the mediation of Hanna Bekker vom Rath. The "Hekate pictures" are created.
1946
First post-war exhibition in the galleries Günther Franke, Munich, and Gerd Rosen, Berlin.
1949
Beginning of the "Fugal Pictures".
1950
First retrospective at the Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover.
1951
Move to Cologne.
1952
Start of the "Rhythmic Pictures". Retrospective at Haus am Waldsee, Berlin.
1954
Start of the "disc pictures".
1955
Participation in documenta I in Kassel.
1956
Solo exhibition in the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Appointed member of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin. Honoured with the Grand Prize of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Participates in the exhibition "Hundred Years of German Painting" at the Tate Gallery, London.
1957
Nay rents a studio in Paris. Represented in the exhibition "German Art of the 20th Century" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (further stop: 1958, St. Louis, City Art Museum).
1959
Solo exhibition at the Kleemann Galleries, New York. Participation in documenta II in Kassel. Retrospective at the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf
1960
Honoured with the Guggenheim Prize, New York, German section. Retrospective at the Kunsthalle Basel. First solo exhibition in London, New London Gallery.
1962
Retrospective on the occasion of his 60th birthday at the Museum Folkwang, Essen.
1963
Start of the "eye pictures".
1964
Creates the three "Documenta Pictures" (4 x 4 metres) for documenta III in Kassel. Solo exhibitions in New York, Paris, at the Kunstverein Münster and retrospective exhibitions at the Kunstvereine Hamburg and Karlsruhe.
1965
Beginning of the "Late Paintings" period. Solo exhibition at the Frankfurter Kunstverein.
1966/67
Retrospective at the Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, the Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim and the Museum of the 20th Century in Vienna.
1968
Reunion with friends Uhlmann, Haftmann, Grohmann and others in Berlin. Last completed work: designs for the wall ceramics (3.30 x 9.36 m) of the Nuclear Research Centre in Karlsruhe.
On 8 April, Nay dies of heart failure at his home in Cologne.
1937
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay - Bilder / Hermann Scheuernstuhl - Skulpturen und Zeichnungen", Ausstellungsraum Karl Buchholz, Berlin, Germany
Galerie Holst Halvorsen, Oslo, Norway
1943
"E.W. Nay - Gouachen, Aquarelle und Zeichnungen", Galerie Günther Franke, München, Germany
1946
"E.W. Nay", Galerie Gerd Rosen, Berlin, Germany
"E.W. Nay", Galerie Günther Franke (auch 1948, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1957-1968 jährlich, 1970, 1973), München, Germany
1947
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay", Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
1949
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay - Fritz Winter: Abstrakte Malerei", Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim, Germany
"Nay", Frankfurter Kunstkabinett Hanna Bekker vom Rath, Frankfurt a.M., Germany
1950
"E.W. Nay (Retrospektive)", Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany
1951
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay - Hans Uhlmann", Oldenburger Kunstverein, Oldenburg, Germany
1952
"E. W. Nay. Ölgemälde, Aquarelle und Graphiken", Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf; Overbeck-Gesellschaft, Lübeck u.a., Germany
1954
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Bilder, Gouachen, Aquarelle und Zeichnungen von 1927 bis 1954", Galerie Der Spiegel (auch 1957, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1967), Köln, Germany
1955
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay: Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen 1951-1955", Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay: Gemälde und Aquarelle", Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren, Germany
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay", Kleemann Galleries (auch 1958, 1959), New York, USA
1960
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay", Galerie Günther Franke, München, Germany
"Nay", New London Gallery, London, Great Britain
1961
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay", Galerie Der Spiegel, Köln, Germany
1962
"E.W.Nay. 60 Jahre (Retrospektive)", Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay", M. Knoedler & Co (auch 1964, 1969), New York, USA
1966
"E.W. Nay (Retrospektive)", Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart; Akad. der Künste, Berlin; Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim, Germany
1967
"E.W. Nay (Retrospektive)", Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, Wien, Austria
1969
"E.W. Nay (Retrospektive)", Wallfraf-Richartz-Museum, Köln; Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Städelsches Kunstinstitut, F.a.M., Germany
"Nay. Aquarelle", Kunsthalle Bielefeld; Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken, Germany
1977
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay 1902- 68, Ölbilder", Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern; Städtische Galerie, Villingen-Schwenningen (weitere Station), Germany
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay: Aquarelle und Gouachen", Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München; Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany
1980
"E. W. Nay 1902-1968 – Bilder und Dokumente", Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg; Haus der Kunst, München; Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany
1985
"Bilder kommen aus Bildern. E. W. Nay 1902-68. Gemälde und unveröffentlichte Schriften aus vier Jahrzehnten", Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld; Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster; Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany
1990
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay: Retrospektive", Museum Ludwig Köln; Kunsthalle, Basel; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh,
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay: Lofotenbilder", Overbeck-Gesellschaft, Lübeck, Germany
1994
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Die Hofheimer Jahre 1945-1951", Städtische Galerie im Städel, Frankfurt a.M.; Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, Germany
1998
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay", Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; Gemäldegalerie Neue Meister, Dresden; Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum, Duisburg,
2000
"E. W. Nay. Aquarelle, Gouachen, Zeichnungen (Retrospektive)", Kunsthalle in Emden. Stiftung Henri und Eske Nannen; Saarlandmuseum, Saarbrücken, Germany
2002
"Nay – Variationen (Retrospektive zum 100. Geburtstag)", Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, München; Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany
2004
"E. W. Nay. Aquarelle und Gouachen", Staatl. Graphische Slg. München; Museum Folkwang; Musée d‘ Art Moderne et Contemporain;, München; Essen; Straßburg,
2009
"E. W. Nay. Bilder der 1960er Jahre", Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt a.M.; Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany
2011
"E. W. Nay im Peill-Forum", Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren, Germany
2012
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay: Das polyphone Bild", Kunstmuseum Bonn (weitere Stationen), Bonn, Germany
2018
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay", Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
2019
"Ernst Wilhelm Nay: Arbeiten auf Papier", Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
2022
"E.W. Nay: Retrospektive", Hamburger Kunsthalle; Museum Wiesbaden, Germany
In 1949, Ernst Wilhelm Nay received a commission for a series of colour lithographs, which he completed in Worpswede that same year. In a letter dated June 1949, Nay writes: "At the moment I am taking a complete break and preparing myself inwardly, so to speak, for August, because then I want to spend four weeks in Worpswede, of all places, to print colour lithographs in a beautiful print shop. (...) My painting is at a point where such graphic work makes a lot of sense."(1) The colour lithographs created in Worpswede also mark the beginning of a new creative phase for the artist: they usher in what Nay called the Fugal Pictures (1949-1951). The colour lithograph David and Bathsheba is one of the sheets created in Worpswede in 1949. Its dynamic composition in madder pink, madder red, light grey and orange tones is made up of undulating and angular surface forms. Despite her advanced abstraction, she shows representational elements in the form of female limbs and a stylised harp. In 1948/49, Nay repeatedly explored the Old Testament figure of King David, on the one hand the harp-playing David, the psalmist, and on the other hand the story of King David's adultery and bloodguilt described in the Old Testament (2nd Book of Samuel, chapter 11).
1) Ernst Wilhelm Nay, letter dated 25 June 1949, in: E.W. Nay, Bilder und Dokumente, Munich 1980, p. 105.
1) Ernst Wilhelm Nay, letter dated 25 June 1949, in: E.W. Nay, Bilder und Dokumente, Munich 1980, p. 105.