Harvard Art Museums > 2003.64: Seraphim Paintings Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Seraphim (Ernst Wilhelm Nay) , 2003.64,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 03, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/73715. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Gallery Text By the late 1950s and early ’60s, abstraction dominated the artistic landscape in West Germany; it was often polemically aligned with democratic principles, in opposition to the state-imposed realism of both the Nazi era and contemporary East Germany. In 1959, at the second documenta, a major exhibition of modern and contemporary art, a large painting by Nay presided over one of two main exhibition spaces, while the work of Jackson Pollock filled the other. The so-called “American invasion” by abstract expressionists that year had a lasting effect on the development of postwar German art. Although Nay omitted all figurative references from his work in the 1950s, his series of paintings from 1963–65, dubbed “Eye Pictures,” features large circular shapes rendered in distinct color contrasts. Identification and Creation Object Number 2003.64 People Ernst Wilhelm Nay, German (Berlin, Germany 1902 - 1968 Cologne, Germany) Title Seraphim Classification Paintings Work Type painting Date 1964 Culture German Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/73715 Physical Descriptions Medium Oil on canvas Dimensions 162 x 150.7 cm (63 3/4 x 59 5/16 in.) framed: 165.5 x 154.3 x 3.9 cm (65 3/16 x 60 3/4 x 1 9/16 in.) Inscriptions and Marks Signed: in oil at l.r.: Nay 64. label: on stretcher at u.l., printed and handwritten: HAUS DER KUNST MUNCHEN / Austellung: E. W. Nay [...] label: on stretcher at u.c., printed: GALERIE BEYELER BASEL / Austellung / E. W. NAY / Seraphim, 1964 / 3.6. - 31.9.2002 / Nr. 9/WV 1100 label: on stretcher at l.c., printed: 41 SERAPHIM 1964 / Privatbesitz label: on stretcher at c.r., printed: GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER [...] inscription: on stretcher at u.l., handwritten, in artist's hand: NAY - "Seraphim" - 1964 inscription: on stretcher at l.r., handwritten: 288 Nay Scheibler Provenance Recorded Ownership History Elisabeth Nay-Scheibler, by inheritance, 1964, sale, 2003. Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, purchase, 2003, gift to the Busch-Reisinger Museum, 2003. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of the Acquisitions Committee of the Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the Museum Copyright © E. Nay-Scheibler. Koln / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Accession Year 2003 Object Number 2003.64 Division Modern and Contemporary Art Contact am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Publication History Aurel Scheibler, Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Werkverzeichnis der Gemälde, DuMont (Cologne, Germany, 1990), no. 1100, col. ill. - vol. 2, p.267 Nay-Variationen. Retrospektive zum 100. Geburtstag, exh. cat. Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung Munich and Kunstmuseum Bonn , exh. cat., DuMont (Cologne, Germany, 2002), no. B90, col. ill. Peter Nisbet and Joseph Koerner, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, ed. Peter Nisbet, Harvard University Art Museums and Scala Publishers Ltd. (Cambridge, MA and London, England, 2007), p. 68 Exhibition History 32Q: 1200 Mid-Century Abstraction I (Painterly Abstraction), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 04/06/2017 Related Articles 40 Works for 40 Years: Celebrating the German Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum October 16, 2023 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu