Nay, Ernst Wilhelm

Description:

Berlin, 1902 - Köln, 1968
60 x 70 cm, R.
"Ballspieler", 1948. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated in oil lower left.
Scheibler, 436.
Studio of the artist.
Dr. Bernhard Sprengel, Hannover, acquired there in 1950.
Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, 235th auction, 6 June 1980, lot 991.
Private property, Frankfurt.
Kunsthandel Brigitte Büdenhölzer, Emmendingen.
Collection Monika and Horst Bülow, Leonberg, acquired there in 1987.
Exhibition:
"E. W. Nay (Retrospektive)", Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover 1950 (not in cataloque).
"Deutsche und Französische Kunst der Gegenwart - Eine Begegnung", Städtische Kunsthalle, Ruhr-Festspiele, Recklinghausen 1950, cat. no. 145 (with fig.).
Literature:
Friedrich Weltzien, "Ernst Wilhelm Nay - Figur und Körperbild - Kunst und Kunsttheorie der vierziger Jahre", Berlin 2003, p. 200.
Publication:
Galerie Lüpke & Schönbrunn, catalogue 1980, Frankfurt am Main 1980, cat. no. 28.
With “Ballspieler” from 1948, we are presented with a work by Ernst Wilhelm Nay that occupies a key position in his oeuvre in several respects. It belongs to the group of the “Fugale Bilder” (“Fugal Paintings”), which mark the transition from his war-influenced, often still figurative works to that powerful abstraction with which Nay would gain international recognition in the 1950s.
The title alludes to a playful dimension that is directly reflected in the composition: in bold tones of red, green, and blue, dynamic fields of colour unfold, interspersed with black and white contrasts. Circular and oval shapes seem to move across the canvas, as if pursuing one another in a dance-like game. This network of forms and colours resembles a visual score - the viewer gains the impression that the painting follows the rules of a musical fugue, in which themes echo, overlap, and vary.
It is precisely this musical structure that characterizes Nay’s “Fugale Bilder.” They embody the spirit of artistic reorientation after 1945, when Nay, after the dark years of isolation, regained a new freedom of expression. His encounter with the avant-garde of the postwar period and his intensive engagement with questions of rhythm, order, and movement found an early climax in these works. “Ballspieler” is an outstanding example: it unites the elan of a new beginning with a concentration on the essentials - colour, form, rhythm.
At the same time, the painting takes on a pioneering role. In the “Rhythmische Bilder” (“Rhythmic Paintings”) of the early 1950s, the round forms - later condensed into discs and eyes - would become the sole pictorial theme. “Ballspieler” demonstrates how early Nay had already set this course. Thus, the work becomes not only a testimony to the immediate postwar modernism but also a preview of the decisive development of German art in the international context.
For collectors, “Ballspieler” holds particular appeal: works from this creative phase are rare on the market and are regarded as highly valued documents of Nay’s artistic transformation. They capture the moment when German art, after 1945, re-entered the international discourse - with a painter who, only a short time later, would become a leading figure of West German modernism at the Venice Biennale and documenta.
In its radiance, its musical-rhythmic energy, and its art-historical significance, “Ballspieler” embodies a work of the highest relevance - a highlight for any collection dedicated to the key works of Classical Modernism.