[MSN] Nolde's Nadja has reappeared

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UNBELIEVABLE: NOLDE'S NADJA HAS REAPPEARED

Press release from: Ketterer Kunst
Published date: 05-15-2007 16:10 PM - CET

Munich, 10 May 2007, (kk) - For nearly 30 years the whereabouts of Emil Nolde’s world-famous portrait “Nadja” was unknown. Now it is up for sale at Ketterer Kunst’s auction Modern Art on 12 June 2007 in Munich, a world sensation.

The story reads like the plot of a detective story: In the late 1970s the painting was stored in the depot of a shipping agent from where it disappeared. It was rediscovered in an attic by an unnamed art collector late in 2006 after the death of his daughter, who had presumably played a role in the theft. The art collector arranged for the painting to be handed to the police in the Ladenburg/Rhein-Neckar district for clarification of ownership. By this time, however, the statutory period of limitation for the theft had expired.

The provenance turned out to be extraordinary: According to Emil Nolde’s own records, the oil painting, which he had painted in 1919, belonged to the murdered foreign minister of the Weimar Republic and son of the AEG founder, Dr. Walther Rathenau. We now know that Nolde must have made a mistake here. It is certain, however, that the work belonged to Dr. Ernst Rathenau, the founder and former owner of the publishing companies Euphorion and Ernest Rathenau, New York. He considered “Nadja”, which had been in the possession of the Rathenau family since the 1920s, the most important painting in his collection. When Dr. Ernst Rathenau had to emigrate to the USA, his secretary saved “Nadja” from the National Socialists by depositing the oil painting in a safe deposit box at the bank Merck Finck & Co in Berlin. “Nadja” was thus spared the fate of so many other works, which did not survive the War and the period after National Socialism.

The small portrait gives evidence of the extraordinary talent of Emil Nolde, who is also praised as a “colour magician” and who was declared a degenerate artist by the National Socialists. It is furthermore an important piece of German history and art history.

All the more reason for Robert Ketterer to be proud to present such an important work - it is estimated at € 1,2 to 1,8 million - in his sale. The firm’s owner and auctioneer remarked: “It was by no means easy to obtain this work, which was much sought-after among all the important international auction houses. Our house’s reputation over the past 50 years, particularly in the field of Expressionist art, convinced the heirs, however. It was, after all, Ketterer, then at the Kunstkabinett in Stuttgart, who arranged the first auction of works by Expressionist artists.”

Noteworthy is also that Nolde’s “Nadja” is one of the first works valued over € 1 million to be auctioned in Germany since the partial standardisation of the directive on the resale right in the EU. A comparable work has hitherto only come on the market in the USA or in London.

Further information about Emil Nolde and “Nadja”: www.kettererkunst.com/emil-nolde-nadja.shtml.

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