Emil Nolde (1867-1956) ranks among the best-known classic modernists. Contemporary perceptions
of the artist and his oeuvre are informed by mythmaking as well as its deconstruction. After
the Second World War Nolde himself and art historians of the time portrayed him as a victim of
Nazi persecution. More recent critics have drawn attention to his anti-Semitic views and his
opportunism in his dealings with the Nazi authorities.With support from the Nolde Foundation
Seebüll the Düsseldorf-based conceptual artist Mischa Kuball (b. 1959) delved into the
documentary record to shed light on this profoundly ambivalent figure and frame a critical
perspective on Emil Nolde's output and actions. The first fruits of his endeavors were shown at
the Draiflessen Collection Mettingen in the winter of 2020-2021.Kuball continued his research
at the invitation of the documenta archive Kassel. Based on his findings the exhibition
project nolde kritik documenta illuminates the ways in which life and oeuvre are interwoven
and inquires into the contradictions of modernism which Emil Nolde as a man and artist may be
said to have embodied. The focus of the new project is on the staging of Nolde's works at the
first three editions of the documenta exhibition series (1955 1959 1964) which were
instrumental to establishing the Nolde myth.An enlarged and revised edition of the catalogue
nolde kritik documenta is released in conjunction with the exhibition at the Fridericianum
Kassel (December 9 2022-February 19 2023).Mischa Kuball has been professor of public art at
the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and associate professor of media art at the Karlsruhe
University of Arts and Design ZKM since 2007.
