Emil Nolde
Cows in the Lowland1909

On view:

Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3

Oil painting of three cows in a green field, rendered in thick impasto strokes of navy, crimson, and burgundy under a blue and pink sky

Artist or Maker: Emil Nolde
Denmark, also active Germany, 1867-1956
Title: Cows in the Lowland
Date Made: 1909
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 34 3/4 × 42 3/4 × 2 1/2 in. (88.27 × 108.59 × 6.35 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Josef von Sternberg
Accession Number: 46.26.4
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Modern Art
Curatorial Notes: Cows in the Lowland is characteristic of Emil Nolde’s early technique, with its paint applied in a thick impasto that imparts a texture as expressive and alive as its exaggerated colors. During the summer of 1909, Nolde would turn away from this impressionistic style in favor of more spiritual, religious imagery. Nolde was a member of the artist’s group Die Brücke (The Bridge) from 1906–07 and joined the Berlin Secession from 1908–10, but otherwise remained independent of artist- led organizations. Although Nolde’s art was labeled “degenerate” during the Nazi period, recent research has documented that Nolde himself enthusiastically embraced the Party’s racist ideas about Aryan superiority. After the war, however, he downplayed his interest in Nazi ideology and emphasized his role as victim and persecuted artist.

Wall label, 2021.
Provenance: The artist (1867-1956); Isefried Kahn, Hannover, before 1930. [Braxton Galleries] or Gustave Gilbert; sold by 1943 to Josef von Sternberg (1894-1969), Los Angeles; given in 1946 to Los Angeles Museum of History, Science, and Art; transferred in 1961 to LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Urban, Martin. Emil Nolde: Werkverzeichnis der Gemälde. Munich: C. H. Beck, 1987.

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