Expressionism: Cadmus Ng Ho Ming talks on Nolde's Mask Still Life III, 1911.

Artist:

Title: Maskenstilleben3 / Masks Still Life III

Year: 1911

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 74 x 78 cm

 

“Masks Still Life III” (originally named “Maskenstilleben3”) is the still life painting by Emil Nolde. There are 4 “Maskenstilleben” paintings in total which were painted in the period of which Nolde was visiting different places and museums (especially in Berlin museum fur Volkerkunde) to do his preparatory studies for his so-called ethnographic still lifes that he made a lots of sketches. “Masks Still Life III” is the one of them and is found to represent the masks that exist in different sections of Volkerkunde museum, and even some of which is believed from his own imagination.

 

“Masks Still Life III” is an expressionist painting, not only because the painting was finished close to the period when Nolde was a member of the Bridge (Die Brucke) that he was influenced by the members there to have more stylish paintings, but the colours the painting has adopted are emotively powerful and the distortions in the painting can easily be observed. In addition, the painting is a primitive art.

As we can observe from the painting, the different bold colours are used to explicitly give subjective feelings. The red masks on the left top, for example, can give the feeling of anger and aggression. The yellow and orange colour used for the masks at the central can give the feeling of happiness and jealousy. The green colour used on the right top mask may be symbolized as sickness to represent pain. The green mask with the red outlining the features also suggests the painting is expressionist. The background colours are mainly in blue and green to give a somber mood as well. The thickly applied paint and obvious vertical brushstrokes in the painting also help the heavy emotion intensity which makes the painting full of tension. These all put together are exhausting and have great psychological effects.

The objects in the painting are distorted as well. The shapes of the masks are angular which has suggested some subjective feelings. The red mass on the top left for example are distorted vertically and give a feeling of scares and fears. While there is one at the lower right is pull horizontally, it gives a feeling of sympathy. On the bottom right mask, there are the black marks to make it like a real skull. The yellow mask at the central would look like sharing at somewhere as well and hiding back to the background which looks like to despise.

The composition of the painting appears not having balance or harmony. This helps to be consistent with the somber tone. There are three focuses on the painting that 3 masks hanged on the left and the one in the front and the one at the black. They are grouped with the different emotion expressed

The painting is categorized as a primitive art as well. Emil Nolde built up specific concern over the non-western arts and their displays in museums as well. It is more than easy to observe from the style of the painting Nolde had that his objects in the painting are flattened. This illustrates the influences of the African arts on him like many other artists like Picasso. The influence on Emil Nolde is also because he was interested in  Picasso's painting as well. 

 The origins of the masks are from different artifacts as well. There is the obvious one at the right top that is from Africa and the far left red mask is actually from Oceanic Island. Some may even argue that the painting is also a response to the alienating and reified conditions of early twenthieth-century society in Europe as well because of its emotional intensity.

Provoking Questions:

Should the painting with the context from imagination or the distorted context primarily from the still life objects be categorized as still life anymore?

Would you think there would be no concern to the society underlined in “Masks Still Life III”? Why?

Resources:

Emil Nolde's Drawings from the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin, and the 'Maskenstilleben1-4', 1911 by Jill Lloyd

Quote:

“There is silver blue, sky blue and thunder blue. Every colour holds within it a soul, which makes me happy or repels me, and which acts as a stimulus. To a person who has no art in him, colours are colours, tones tones and that is all. All their consequences for the human spirit, which range between heaven to the hell, just go unnoticed.” Written by Nolde, 1942.

“Everything that passed before one’s eyes awakens the whole gamut that lies between joy and suffering, happiness and unhappiness” written by Nolde.