Sculpture "Burmese Dancer" (1914), bronze partially gold-plated

Only available worldwide at ars mundi: Emil Nolde's Burmese Dancer.

It must have been a great adventure for Emil Nolde, who grew up on a farm: from early October 1913 until the summer of 1914, he accompanied the "Medical-Demographic Expedition to German New Guinea". His art focused entirely on the people. Nolde drew and watercoloured them and was fascinated by their rituals. On the island of Java, he was able to attend a royal festival. The trained woodcarver was so impressed by the dancers and their performance, which was controlled down to the smallest movement, that he devoted himself to capturing their grace in figures made of firewood from the ship's galley during his journeys.

Emil Nolde's love and admiration for the indigenous people of the countries he travelled through are reflected in the beauty of the Burmese dancer. He attended a dance performance of a unique kind and, looking back, recorded what he saw in his memoirs. This dance fascinated Nolde so much that he took up a carving knife and sculpted the graceful dancer out of a piece of firewood. The tiny dancer's eyes are particularly striking; she is the only figure from Nolde's hand to wear sparkling garnets. I am very pleased that, after the Java Dancer, now the enchanting Burmese Dancer has been reproduced to reveal the largely unknown facet of Nolde's work. This sculpture of outstanding quality is available for a chosen audience. (Dr Christian Ring, Director of the Foundation Seebüll Ada and Emil Nolde)

Sculpture in fine bronze, cast using the Lost-Wax-Process, chiselled by hand, polished and patinated. Directly cast from the original, reproduced in the original size. 24-carat partially gold-plated. Eyes with red garnets. Limited edition of 980 copies, numbered and signed and with the foundry hallmark. Published in cooperation with the Nolde Foundation Seebüll. With numbered certificate of authenticity and limitation. Size 8.5 x 28 x 4 cm (w/h/d). ars mundi Exclusive Edition.

Producer: ars mundi Edition Max Büchner GmbH, Bödekerstraße 13, 30161 Hanover, Germany Email: info@arsmundi.de

About Emil Nolde

1867-1956 - German Expressionist

Emil Nolde was born as Hans Emil Hansen and named himself after his birthplace in 1902. Nolde is considered one of the most important German Expressionists. When he was rejected by the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, he moved to Paris to study at the Académie Julien. Starting in 1905 he lived and worked on the Danish island of Alsen and in Berlin and was a member of the revolutionary expressionist group "Die Brücke" (The Bridge) for a short time and of the Berlin Secession.

Shortly after Nolde left the artists' association "Die Brücke" at the end of 1907, he met the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch in Berlin, whose work impressed him greatly. During the visit of his friend Hans Fehr in 1908, he began to discover the technique of watercolour painting and finally how to realise it with virtuosity.

Today, Nolde's oeuvre includes numerous watercolour works, oil paintings, graphic works and several sculptures. His intensive use of colour is characteristic. Although the artist always remained figurative in his motifs (e.g. landscapes, flowers, city scenes, religious motifs), he "composed" his pictures entirely from colour. When Nolde moved into his brick house "Seebüll" in Neukirchen in northern Germany in 1927, he surrounded it with a large garden that offered him motifs in abundance.

Research had long noted that Nolde's position on National Socialism was problematic. His exclusion from the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts was associated with a ban on exhibitions, sales and publications. Nolde repeatedly sought rehabilitation and recognition as a state artist. However, he was denied this right up until the end. His painting was simply not formally compatible with the ideas of the Nazis.

At the opening of the infamous exhibition "Degenerate Art", 48 of his works were shown, and more than 1000 works were confiscated. However, due to his contacts, Nolde was able to retrieve a large part of these works.

Despite his active adherence to the system, he was banned from working from 1941 on. However, his ban didn't include a general ban on painting, as was often reported later. During the war, he produced more than 1000 of the so-called "unpainted pictures" in the privacy of his home. The term originally referred to the function of these small-format watercolours as studies and preliminary sketches that were not turned into large paintings. After 1945, these undoubtedly artistically charming pieces and their naming contributed to the mystification of Nolde as a persecuted artist.

Despite the contradictory ideological positions of Nolde as a person, the artistic value of his work remains undisputed to this day. The way Nolde manages to let the colour of an oil painting or aquarelle glow from within is unrivalled.

Works by Emil Nolde can be found in the collections of high-ranking museums worldwide, including the Art Institute in Chicago, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Brücke Museum in Berlin, the Albertina in Vienna and the Kunstmuseum in Basel, etc. Moreover, foundations have been established in his honour in Seebüll and Berlin.

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An alloy of copper with other metals (especially with tin) used since ancient times. It is an ideal metal for high-quality artistic castings, capable of enduring for millennia.

When casting bronze, the artist usually applies the lost-wax technique which is dating back more than 5000 years. This is the best, but also the most complex method of producing sculptures.

First, the artist forms a model of their work. This model is embedded in a liquid silicone rubber mass. Once the material has solidified, the model is cut out, leaving a negative mould. Liquid wax is then poured into the negative mould. After cooling down, the wax cast is removed from the mould, provided with sprues and dipped into ceramic mass. The ceramic mass is hardened in a kiln, where the wax melts away (lost mould).

Finally, the negative mould is ready, into which the 1400° C hot molten bronze is poured. After the bronze had cooled down, the ceramic shell is broken apart, reavoling the sculpture.

Next, the sprues are removed, the surfaces are polished, patinated and numbered by the artist or by a specialist, following their instructions. Thus, each casting is an original work.

For lower-quality bronze castings, the sand casting method is often used, which, however, does not achieve the results of a more elaborate lost-wax technique in terms of surface characteristics and quality.

Graphic or sculpture edition that was initiated by ars mundi and is available only at ars mundi or at distribution partners licensed by ars mundi.

Term for an art object (sculpture, installation) that, according to the artist’s intention, is produced in multiple copies within a limited and numbered edition.

Multiples enable the "democratization" of art by making the work accessible and affordable for a wider audience.

A true-to-the-original reproduction of an artwork in the same size and with the best possible material and colour uniformity.

The mould is usually taken directly from the original so that the replication reproduces even the finest details. After casting the replication, using the most appropriate method, the surface is polished, patinated, gilded or painted according to the original.

A replication of ars mundi is a recognizable copy of the original.

A plastic work of sculptural art made of wood, stone, ivory, bronze or other metals.

While sculptures made of wood, ivory, or stone are carved directly from the material block, in bronze casting, a working model is prepared at first. Usually, it is made of clay or other easily mouldable materials.

The prime time of sculpture after the Greek and Roman antiquity was the Renaissance. Impressionism gave a new impulse to the sculptural arts. Contemporary artists such as Jorg Immendorf, Andora, and Markus Lupertz also enriched sculptures with outstanding works.