documenta archiv, Kassel presents nolde/kritik/documenta

Perspectives of Expressionism: On Appropriation around 1900: January 19, 7–9pm, panel discussion

Work and Author: Emil Nolde’s Biographical Ambivalences: February 9, 7–9pm, panel discussion

Emil Nolde (1867-1956) was a well-known representative of German classic contemporary art. Myth building and deconstruction are hallmarks of both work and person. Following WWII, modern art critics, as well as Nolde himself, promoted the idea of an outcast painter persecuted by the Nazis. Only recently has attention been directed to his anti-Semitism and opportunism towards the Nazi government.

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Mischa Kuball (b. 1959), a Düsseldorf-based conceptual artist, set out on the trail of this contradictory artist personality and critically investigated Emil Nolde’s work and effect with the backing of the Nolde Foundation Seebüll. In the winter of 2020/2021, the first results were on show at the Draiflessen Collection in Mettingen.

Kuball continues his inquiry in Kassel at the request of the documenta archiv: The research-based exhibition project “nolde / kritik / documenta” throws light on the entwinement of work and biography and investigates the modernist tensions that arise in an exemplary fashion in Nolde’s artistic character. The unveiling of Nolde’s paintings and watercolors at the first three documenta exhibitions (1955, 1959, 1964) as pivotal milestones in constructing the artist’s “myth” is the starting point. Some of the works on display at the time are now making their way back to the Fridericianum for the first time.

Kuball’s staging adheres to the notion of multi-layered juxtaposition: spoken and unsaid, visible and invisible. His artistic research expands social viewpoints beyond the artist’s persona, exposing mechanisms of artistic self-staging and memory culture. The display structure subverts traditional museum presentation styles and causes annoyance when seeing the actual paintings.

In cooperation with Draiflessen Collection, Nolde Foundation Seebüll and Mischa Kuball.