Skip Navigation

South Sea Islander (Südsee-Insulaner II)

Emil Nolde

European Art

Like many Expressionist artists, Emil Nolde had an interest in the art and people of what many European modernists referred to at the time as “primitive” cultures. In 1913 Nolde and his wife enthusiastically accepted an invitation from the German government to join an ethnographic and demographic expedition to New Guinea, Germany’s main colonial territory in the Pacific. He spent a year there and made numerous drawings and watercolors of the people he encountered. This vivid lithograph of a young man is based on studies he made in New Guinea.

Decades later, Nolde had more works confiscated and denounced by the Nazis as “degenerate” than any other artist. This caused him particular dismay because he was himself an ardent anti-Semite and remained a member of the Nazi Party through 1945. He downplayed this part of his biography, as did much of the literature surrounding him, and it has only recently been openly examined.
MEDIUM Color lithograph on wove paper
  • Place Made: Germany
  • DATES 1915
    DIMENSIONS image: 16 15/16 × 13 1/8 in. (43 × 33.3 cm) sheet: 22 7/8 x 16 15/16 in. (58.1 x 43 cm)  (show scale)
    INSCRIPTIONS Upper left in graphite: "Probedruck"; lower left in graphite: "unserem lieben Sauerland im Krieg--Feb. 1916); lower right in graphite: "Emil Nolde"
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 53.254.3
    CREDIT LINE A. Augustus Healy Fund
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Emil Nolde (German, 1867-1956). South Sea Islander (Südsee-Insulaner II), 1915. Color lithograph on wove paper, image: 16 15/16 × 13 1/8 in. (43 × 33.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 53.254.3 (Photo: , 53.254.3_PS9.jpg)
    STATE II/II
    EDITION Edition: Trial proof
    IMAGE overall, 53.254.3_PS9.jpg., 2019
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT No known copyright restrictions
    This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.