Ernst Wilhelm Nay

Ernst Wilhelm Nay (* 11 June 1902 in Berlin; † 8 April 1968 in Cologne) was a German painter. He is one of the most important representatives of classical modernism and German post-war art.

Ernst Wilhelm Nay's education

Ernst Wilhelm Nay spent his school years at the boarding school Schulpforta in Thuringia, where he passed his Abitur in 1921.
Through Karl Hofer's mediation, Nay obtained a scholarship to the Berlin Hochschule für bildende Künste in 1925. Hofer accepted him directly into his painting class. In 1928 he finished his studies as a master student of Hofer and went on a study trip to Paris.
He produced his first surrealist-abstract paintings during a nine-month scholarship to the Villa Massimo in Rome, which he was awarded in 1931. In 1932 Ernst Wilhelm Nay marries Elly Kirchner, whom he meets during his studies.

When the National Socialists came to power in 1933, one of his works was derided in the "Völkischer Beobachter" as a "masterpiece of meanness". In 1937, the National Socialists confiscated 10 of Nay's works from public ownership.
Two of his paintings are shown at the "Degenerate Art" exhibition organised by the National Socialists.
In the same year, through the mediation of Carl Georg Heise, a German art historian and museum director, Nay received financial support from the painter Edward Munch, which enabled him to travel to the Norwegian Lofoten Islands for three months. There Nay painted large-format watercolours. Later, inspired by these watercolours, he created further "Lofoten pictures". He met the collector and art dealer Hanna Bekker vom Rath.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the artist was deployed from 1940 to 1945, first in southern France as an infantryman and later in Brittany as a cartographer. At this time he produced small watercolours and drawings. After a short period as a prisoner of war, Nay returned to Germany in 1945 and moved into a house with a studio in Hofheim am Taunus. There he created the so-called 'Hekate pictures', which were followed by the series of 'Fugal pictures'. In these he processed his experiences of the war and post-war period.

Relocation to Cologne and first exhibitions of Ernst Wilhelm Nays

In 1951 the artist moved to Cologne. In 1952 he began the period of his "Rhythmic Pictures" and in 1954 the period of his "Disc Pictures", his best-known works. In 1955 the artist was awarded the Lichtwark Prize of the Hanseatic City of Hamburg. In the same year he has his first solo exhibition in the USA at the Kleeman Gallery in New York. In 1956 he was awarded the Grand Art Prize for Painting of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and a solo exhibition in the German pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The artist was also appointed a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin in 1956.
Ernst Wilhelm Nay took part in the first three documenta exhibitions in 1955, 1959 and 1964.
On the occasion of his 60th birthday, the Museum Folkwang in Essen opens a comprehensive solo exhibition in 1962. The artist is awarded the Berlin Art Prize in 1964 and the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1967. The disc pictures are further developed in 1963/64 and finally replaced by the so-called "eye pictures".

Ernst Wilhelm Nay died in Cologne on 8 April 1968.

Reception of the artist Ernst Wilhelm Nay

Nay's early work is characterised by self-taught landscapes and portraits in which, among other things, the influences of his teacher Karl Hofer are recognisable. Processing a strong dynamic in the movement of his motifs, he increasingly abstracted figures and landscapes. The "Hekate pictures" mark a new stage of development in Nay's work, in which the past of the war is reflected. Motifs from myth, legend and poetry are echoed here. The final break occurs with the work phase of the "Fugal Pictures". Glowing colours and intricate forms accompanied by dots and triangular shapes now dominate the choice of motifs. His best-known and most successful works to date are the 'Scheibenbilder'. In these, the circular shape of the disc organises itself into subtle modulations of space and colour.

His international breakthrough came in the 1950s. In addition to receiving numerous awards, his works were shown at many representative exhibitions of German art on an international level.

o. T., 1963, watercolor on paper, 42 × 60,2 cm

1921
Abitur at the boarding school Schulpforta in Thuringia.
1925
Scholarship holder at the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts in the painting class of Carl Hofer, whose master student he becomes.
1928
Study trip to Paris.
1937
The National Socialists confiscate 10 works by Nay, who is now ostracised as "degenerate", from public ownership. Two of his paintings are shown at the "Degenerate Art" exhibition organised by the National Socialists. With the financial support of Edvard Munch, Nay spends three months in Norway.
1939
Nay meets the art dealer Hanna Bekker vom Rath.
1940/1945
War deployment in the south of France and in Brittany, at this time he creates small watercolours and drawings.
1947
Acquaintance with the collectors Günther and Carola Peill, Bernhard Sprengel, Herbert Kurz and Karl Ströher.
1949
Beginning of the work period of the "Fugal Pictures".
1951
Move to Cologne.
1952
Beginning of the work period of the "Rhythmic Pictures".
1954
Beginning of the work period of the "Scheiben Bilder".
1955
Lichtwark Prize in Hamburg.
1956
Solo exhibition in the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Grand Art Prize of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Appointed member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin.
1962
Large solo exhibition on the occasion of his 60th birthday at the Museum Folkwang, Essen. Solo exhibitions in New York.
1964
Art Award of the City of Berlin
1966
Trips to Morocco, New York, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Japan and Hong Kong.