Emil Nolde – Vetter der Tiefe – mit der Korrespondenz Nolde – Klee

Published and annotated for the first time - the correspondence between Nolde and Klee

The book, whose title takes up a characterisation of his artist friend Nolde handed down by Paul Klee, is published on the occasion of the exhibition "Emil Nolde" at the Zentrum Paul Klee and contains, in addition to illustrations of the works presented there, the correspondence between the Nolde and Klee couple, published for the first time. Encounters with strangers always seemed to inspire Emil Nolde's artistic work. His work also contains many references to the grotesque, the fantastic and the exotic - a fascination that he shared with Paul Klee. Grotesques allowed both of them to comment critically on contemporary events. In Nolde's work, fantastic depictions arise from a serious play with the unknown and the uncanny and therefore occupy a central position in his work, while in Paul Klee's work the realm of ghosts, demons and other hybrid creatures seems to serve more as an exciting parallel world for edification. For Nolde, as for Klee and many of their contemporaries, exotic motifs formed a new and inspiring formal vocabulary that helped to break the mould of European tradition. In this volume, which presents works by Nolde that have hitherto been somewhat marginalised in the art world, but which were of great importance to the artist and therefore deserve our full attention, the surviving correspondence between Emil and Ada Nolde with Paul and Lily Klee is also published and annotated for the first time. This reappraisal of the written correspondence between the two artist friends and their families closes a gap in research and reveals hitherto unknown aspects of a mutually inspiring friendship.

Exhibition:
Zentrum Paul Klee Bern, 17/11/2018 - 3/3/2019