San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, 1924

Blatt: 345 x 448 mm

Physical Description: Watercolour on Japanese laid paper

Inventory Number: 17906

Object Number: 17906 Z

Acquisition: Acquired in 2019 as a bequest from Ulrike Crespo from the Karl Ströher Collection

Status: Can be presented in the study room of the Graphische Sammlung (special opening hours)

Texts

About the Work

In 1924, Nolde visited Italy, a land of longing for countless artists. In Venice he painted, among other things, the island of San Giorgio Maggiore with the monastery of the same name. He usually had paper and his paintbox with him when he roamed the city. That enabled him to commit the light of the setting sun directly to paper, even if he undoubtedly also enhanced it atmospherically in the process. Nolde had a special fondness for the intense vibrancy of watercolour paints and the way they blended when applied wet-on-wet.

About the Acquisition

The Städel Museum has the photographer, psychotherapist, philanthropist, and long-time Frankfurt resident Ulrike Crespo (1950–2019) to thank for more than ninety works ranging from classical modernism to American pop art. The paintings, drawings, and prints by Wassily Kandinsky, Otto Dix, Oskar Schlemmer, Max Ernst, Jean Dubuffet, Cy Twombly, and others originally belonged to the holdings of her grandfather, the Darmstadt-based industrialist Karl Ströher (1890–1977), who amassed an extensive art collection after World War II.

Work Data

Basic Information

Title: San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice

Draughtsman

Emil Nolde

Period Produced

20th century

Object Type

drawing

Physical Description: Watercolour on Japanese laid paper

Material

Technique

Geographic Reference

German

Label at the Time of Manufacture: Signiert unten rechts (mit der Feder in Braun): Nolde.

Watermark

Nicht vorhanden

Property and Acquisition

Institution

Städel Museum

Departement

Department of Prints and Drawings

Collection

Städelsches Kunstinstitut

Creditline: Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Picture Copyright: © Nolde Stiftung Seebüll

Acquisition: Acquired in 2019 as a bequest from Ulrike Crespo from the Karl Ströher Collection

Work Content

Motifs and References

Genre

Main Motif

Iconclass

Primary

48C1 architecture
61D(ITALIA) geographical names of countries, regions, mountains, rivers, etc. (ITALIA) (ITALIA)
61E(VENEZIA) names of cities and villages (VENEZIA)
61F(SAN GIORGIO MAGGIORE (Venezia)) names of historical buildings, sites, streets, etc. (SAN GIORGIO MAGGIORE (Venezia))

Secondary

24A21 dusk, evening twilight
11Q7121(TOWER) parts of church exterior and annexes: tower
25I145 canals, waters (in city)

Research and Discussion

Provenance

Object History: ...

verkauft an Yvonne Hagen (1918-2005), Berlin/Paris, ca. 1948

verkauft durch Virginia Hammersmith Fontaine (1915-1991) und Paul Emile Fontaine (1913-1996), Frankfurt/Darmstadt an Karl Ströher (1890-1977), Darmstadt, 1958

Nachlass Karl Ströher, 1977

an seine Enkelin Ulrike Crespo (1950-2019), Frankfurt am Main

Vermächtnis an das Städelsche Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main, 2019.

Information

Since 2001, the Städel Museum has systematically been researching the provenance of all objects that were acquired during the National Socialist period, or that changed owners or could have changed owners during those years. The basis for this research is the “Washington Declaration”, also known as the “Washington Conference Principles”, formulated at the 1998 “Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets” and the subsequent “Joint Declaration”.

The provenance information is based on the sources researched at the time they were published digitally. However, this information can change at any time when new sources are discovered. Provenance research is therefore a continuous process and one that is updated at regular intervals.

Ideally, the provenance information documents an object’s origins from the time it was created until the date when it found its way into the collection. It contains the following details, provided they are known: