Watercolor on paper. Signed and attr. Emil Nolde (German, 1867-1956). Gallery label on verso. 13.4 x 10.6 in. (34 x 27 cm). Emil Nolde was a German Expressionist known for his paintings and prints of flowers, landscapes, and folkloric iconography. The roughhewn yet perceptual quality of his colors and mark-making bear the influence of Vincent van Gogh, as seen in his work Stormy Sea (1930). “There is silver blue, sky blue, and thunder blue. Every color holds within it a soul, which makes me happy or repels me, and which acts as a stimulus,†the artist mused. Born Emil Hansen on August 7, 1867 in Nolde, Denmark (formerly Germany), he was raised in a family of farmers in a rural area by the sea. Expected to join the family farm Nolde instead pursued a career in furniture carving before beginning to paint. In 1906, while in Berlin he briefly joined the Die Brücke Expressionist group, which included his friend and advocate Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. He would go on to exhibit with both the Berlin Secession and Wassily Kandinsky’s Der Blaue Reiter group. During World War II, the Nazi regime, of which Nolde was an outspoken supporter, categorized him as a “degenerate†artist, though he continued to paint through the war unfazed. The artist died on April 15, 1956 in Seebüll, Germany at the age of 88. His works are presently held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Kunstmuseum Basel, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Albertina in Vienna. PROVENANCE: Private estate (Perugia, Italy)

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By [Artist Name] : In our opinion, the work is by the artist.

Attributed to [Artist Name] : In our opinion, the work may be ascribed to the artist on the basis of style, but there may be some question as to actual authorship.

In the manner of [Artist Name] : In our opinion, the work was executed by an unknown hand, but was designed deliberately to emulate the style of the artist.

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American, 19th century : In our opinion, this work was executed by an unknown hand, and can only be identified by origin (i.e., region, period).

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Apocryphal : Of doubtful authenticity.