Mann und Weibchen

In this bold image, Expressionist Emil Nolde melds technique and subject as a means to escape the stifling regimentation Imperial Germany. Like several other artists of his time, his search for purity led him to so-called primitive cultures, here represented by two figures half-clothed in boldly-patterned cloth seated beneath a starry sky. Rather than carving supple lines, as he had been trained to do in his youth, Nolde hacked at the woodblock to give the image an uncivilized feel. This work thus taps into many issues currently debated in the art world: What is the role of exoticism? Who gets to work in what style to tell whose story? What is the role and limitation of the stereotype? How do we of the present deal with the art of the past?