Heinrich Nauen
Bildnis von Frau Sohn-Rethel, Um 1923

Alfred Flechtheim and Heinrich Nauen

Heinrich Nauen is one of the most important representatives of ‘Rheinischer Expressionismus’. Inspired by Vincent van Gogh and Henri Matisse, Nauen – who studied at the art academies in Düsseldorf and Stuttgart – developed a painterly style based on the Fauves and the Expressionists. For Nauen, the overriding principle governing his work was colour, with form being subordinate to it. In 1911 Nauen moved to the Lower Rhine region after spending some time in Paris and Berlin. He was in contact with other artists such as Heinrich Campendonk and the Blauer Reiter group of artists, as well as collectors and gallery owners. He was represented at the Sonderbund exhibition in 1912 in Cologne. In 1921 he was appointed professor at the Düsseldorf art academy but was forced to resign in 1937. That same year his work was defamed in the National Socialists’ ‘Degenerate Art’ exhibition. More than 100 works by Nauen had previously been confiscated from museums in Germany.

Alfred Flechtheim and Heinrich Nauen worked together ever since the opening exhibition in December 1913 in Düsseldorf. Flechtheim also honoured the artist with a solo exhibition in January and February that following year – one of the first exhibitions held in the rooms of the newly founded gallery and the first for Nauen himself. In addition to paintings, drawings and watercolours, his six-part painting cycle for Drove Castle, commissioned by the art historian Edwin Suermondt and one of Nauen’s most important works, was also shown. The artist who was under contract to Flechtheim from this time onwards, took part in seventeen group exhibitions in the galleries in Berlin, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt up until 1933 and is, as such, one of the artists whose works were most frequently exhibited by Flechtheim.