Scholars Dispute (Gelehrtenstreit)
Emil Nolde (1876-1956), etching and aquatint (tonal effects), 1922, signed in pencil lower right (also titled lower left). Reference: Schiefler-Mosel 207. In good condition, with very wide full margins (small loss and repaired tear upper left corner, rippling and slight soft folds at sheet edges); matrix immaculate. On an ivory wove paper with the J Zanders 1914 watermark. 12 1/4 x 9 3/4, the sheet 25 1/2 19 1/2 inches.
A fine clear and well printed impression.
In 1922 Nolde created 21 etchings, his last significant group of etchings. These were mostly compositions of weirdly shaped figures engaged in some activity or conversation, as in this example where the conversation is particularly lively. The two figures complement each other graphically, with swooping lines from one paralleled by the outline of the other; the figure on the left raises his left foot as if he’s about to stamp on the floor; the figure on the right holds one arm in the air, perhaps to make a point. At the right are some palm trees. The figures are humorous – perhaps – but one also senses a tension, perhaps some darkness in this “dispute.” Both figures wear odd hats.
Nolde’s method of achieving his “tonal effects” has never been satisfactorily explained. Schliefer observed that “they recall what is usually called aquatint, but differ in that any uniformity of tone is avoided. The etching ground is obviously laid on the different parts of the plate in differing depths so that the plate is exposed in one place sooner, in another later, to the action of the acid. Moreover the method of the laying on, whether it is with a bristly or a fine brush, a palette knife or the fingers, whether it is spread out or left in a mass, also has its effect and gives the tone sometimes a streaky or cloudy, sometimes a grainy or fleck-like character.”