Master Art

This large watercolour by Ernst Wilhelm Nay may be associated with a group of abstract works on paper produced during the second half of the 1950s and the first half of the 1960s, in which rounded or circular shapes (which the artist referred to as ‘discs’) are repeated to create an almost floral effect. These works are closely related to both the artist’s critically acclaimed Scheibenbildern, and the successive series of Augenbilder, or ‘eye paintings’ of 1963-1964, in which the disc motifs were developed into eye-like forms. Drawn in 1963, the year in which Nay undertook a long trip to California and Mexico, this untitled watercolour may be likened to several works of this period in which a bluish tonality is predominant, such as Ohne Titel (Aquarellstudie Blau) of 1956, Aquarell Blau of 1958, Ohne Titel of 1960 and Ohne Titel (Aquarell Blau) of 1962, all in private collections.

The present sheet, which was until recently in the collection of the renowned German banker Robert Ehret (1925-2022), is registered in the online Ernst Wilhelm Nay catalogue raisonné, under no.CR 63-0112.