Brush and India ink and pencil. Inscribed “37 (circled) Nay: Ink brush 1949; (Frau und Häuser; Dieses Blatt ist von E. W. Nay; Elisabeth Nay” on the reverse by Elisabeth Nay-Scheibler. On wove paper. 50.8 x 57 cm. , the full sheet.
[MH].

• The work was created in the early postwar period—a phase of artistic renewal and stylistic reorientation for Nay.
• The interplay of ink brush and pencil creates a tension between spontaneous gesture and constructive planning.
• Previously exhibited on several occasions, including at the Städtische Galerie im Städel, Frankfurt am Main.
• Study for the oil painting of the same name (CR no. 397)
• Nay is one of the most important representatives of abstract art in Germany.
We are grateful to Dr. Brigitte Schlüter, Ernst Wilhelm Nay Foundation, Cologne, for her kind assistance.
LITERATURE: Magdalene Claesges, Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Catalogue Raisonné. Aquarelles - Gouachen - Zeichnungen, vol. 1: 1919-1948, Ostfildern 2012, CR no. 47-210 (illustrated).

E. W. Nay. Zeichnungen, Städtisches Museum Schloß Morsbroich, Leverkusen, March 26-May 10, 1981, cat. no. 41 (illustrated on p. 37; titled there as “Frau und Häuser II”). Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Die Hofheimer Jahre 1945-1951, Städtische Galerie im Städel, Frankfurt am Main, Feb. 24-May 23, 1994; Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, June 9-Aug. 21, 1994, cat. no. 95

Galerie Herbert Meyer-Ellinger, Frankfurt am Main (1991). Private collection, Frankfurt am Main. Galerie Terminus, Munich. Private collection, Southern Germany (since the 2000s, acquired from the above)

In good condition. Slightly soiled overall. There are a few small handling- and crease marks along the edges, as well as some slight isolated creases in the paper.