Nolde in Dresden
Emil Nolde’s A Church by a Harbor is deeply rooted in his philosophy on primitivism and strongly formed opinions about urban life. Primitivism is a movement away from modern ideals, looking at non-western cultures for sources of inspiration. In Nolde’s work this took the form of an intense focus on nature and, later in his career, an exploration of what he believed to be ‘primitive’ cultures. These influences manifest themselves his brash use of the lithography as a medium. His use of color, gesture and form come together to create an experience that reflects the often-turbulent time he spent in urban settings. His choice to portray the city didn’t come from a need to capture his surroundings, but rather an overwhelming desire to escape their confines.
Nolde’s rural upbringing played a large role in his rejection of urban life. Born in Northern Germany to a simple farming family, he retained a strong attachment to his past. He believed that in this place he had a spiritual connection to nature. “I observe the heavens and the large clouds; they were my friends… During the warm afternoons it became swelteringly hot and the gadflies were biting and the dark thunderclouds hung rumbling in the South-West.”[1] His dramatic account of the weather in these moorlands shows the profound meaning he found in nature.
Beyond his childhood memories, there were more concrete reasons for his dislike of the city. In 1889 Nolde moved to Berlin hoping to work in furniture and design factories. While there, the artist underwent a period of unemployment and left the city after catching tuberculosis. After moving back, he felt the city’s scorn again in 1904 when his wife Ada collapsed after he unsuccessful debut in the cabaret.2 These experiences were extremely traumatic for Nolde. His attempts to create new life for himself invariably ended in unexpected disaster. Going through all of this over the course of five years had a formative effect on his outlook on urban life.
Although these events transpired in Berlin, he still felt their weight several years later in Dresden. This becomes especially apparent when looking at A Church by a Harbor. The print is more than an account of a striking view. It is an expression of disgust, prompted by the events of Nolde’s life. Color is an essential part of this expression. There is a limited palette of yellow and black, with purple undertones for dimension. The yellow sky gives the whole scene a very sickly feel. This radical departure from local color is jarring. The artist does not strive to capture what he’s seeing; he acts to subvert it. At the top of the print a layer of textured purple darkens the sky. The darkening caps the composition at the top. It also gives the whole scene an ominous aura. The purple remains unblended in certain areas. This careless treatment adds a nervous energy to the piece. The most prominent color of the piece is black, which is incredibly concentrated in the center of the lithograph. This flat black tone creates a void and evokes a feeling of emptiness and detachment. A band of white space surrounds the black of the church and its reflection. The outline pushes it forward from the plane of the sky and water. It disrupts the scene, adding another element of aggression to the already bold form. His use of color create an unpleasant experience can be seen as symbolic of his time in Berlin.
Adding to this jarring experience are the varying marks he uses. The reflection of the buildings in the water is extremely gestural and frantic. These wild, painterly strokes give it an unrestrained energy. The rest of the water is rendered in thick yellow streaks. The difference in how the reflections are treated truncates the water. It cuts it into two distinct parts as opposed to one flat plane. The marks become tighter higher in the piece. The same loose energy that they have in the water is lost. This gives the top a feeling of stability. The church and the structures around it are strong verticals that contrast the horizontal strokes of their reflection, once again breaking away from any sense of unity. The darker yellows of the sky are splotchy and textured. This texture gives the piece more range and variety. The final aspect of this work is the clouds. These simply drawn forms are crude and naïvistic, but they serve an important role. They interrupt the shape of the edge, breaking away from a rectangular form. They activate the wide margins of the piece, further disrupting the scene. The range of mark and gesture, and the divisions they create, force the eye to keep moving. Viewing this piece is not the tranquil experience one would expect from a painting of a church on a river.
There is a rich visual tradition surrounding images of Dresden. Its Baroque architecture and picturesque location next to the Elbe River made it a source of inspiration for many artists. Amongst these was the Norwegian, Romantic painter John Christian Dahl. His oil painting View of Dresden by Moonlight, 1839, is a much different take on a scene similar to Nolde’s. In the foreground there are a number of people on the bank of a moonlit river. Their peaceful coexistence on this warm night gives the scene a sense of fullness, unlike in A Church by a Harbor where the lack of human occupation serves to intensify the sense of isolation and detachment. In Dahl’s piece the city is rendered in painstaking detail. The power and beauty of the buildings is not lost in the darkness of night. Nolde, on the other hand, strips these buildings of all their grace. In his stark representation they become only silhouette. His conscious decision to omit these details shows him trying to create a new sort of image, one not anchored in historical beauty, but rather his feelings of misery.
Nolde’s choice of medium is highly relevant in creating this expression. Lithography was a medium that demanded the involvement of a professional printer. At the time Nolde made this print, he and other members of The Bridge were experimenting with getting rid of that intermediate step and printing on their own. In their studio they created a simple lithography set-up. The images they created were cruder than professional lithographs, but what they believed them to be more expressive. They focused on the specific characteristics of lithography, doing things like washing the stone down in a dilute turpentine mixture before printing to disrupt the ink. Members of The Bridge were using lithography as an expressive mean rather than one for just reproduction.[2] This expressive focus can be seen in A Church by a Harbor. The variety that lithography afforded, in terms of mark and form helped him to create this piece. His individualized treatment of the water, sky and structure was something he achieved through pushing the lithographic medium outside of its typical use.
Three years after he created this print he revisited similar subject matter in his painting Tug-Boat on the Elba. Using a similar palette of just yellow and black he shows black steam pouring out of a boat and its reflection just below. The piece has a similar unsettling feeling as A Church by a Harbor. They both invoke the sense of discomfort and unease Nolde felt in developed surroundings.[3] The key difference between them is their medium. In this re-visitation in paint, something is lost. The heavy, saturated brush strokes lack the same energy. They create a still and muddled experience. This takes away from it spontaneity. A Church by a Harbor feels like a sudden outpouring of emotion, while this painting feels like a slow build up. While it may be effective in conveying a certain mood, the energy Nolde brought out of his lithograph gives it a stronger sense of voice and intention.
Nolde’s propensity for self-expression can be seen A Church by a Harbor. In this piece he channeled his views about the soul-sucking nature of urban life in a concise and impactful way. Informed by his past experiences he created something that was emblematic of his views. His rejection of city life alludes to the desire for a more natural or ‘primitive’ lifestyle, but he did more than just express this desire. He took a comforting place and twisted it into something much darker. In that sense the piece moves beyond an expression of self, becoming something much more subversive.