NELL WALDEN (Sweden, Karlskrona 1887-1975 Bern): “No. 817". Monogram signed and dated NW 68 and signed and dated Nell Walden 20 mai 1968 atergo, tempera/collage on paper set on cardboard.

approx. 24.5x17.5 cm
frame 45.5x37.5 cm

NELL WALDEN
Nelly Anna Charlotta Roslund, born 1887 in Karlskrona, died 1975 in Bern, was a Swedish painter, art collector and writer who, together with her husband Herwarth Walden, ran the expressionist journal Der Sturm's gallery in Berlin during the 1910s and 1920s

Nell is regarded as one of Sweden's first abstract artists and she was a central figure in the pioneering Der Sturm movement. Nell met Herwarth Walden in Landskrona in 1911 when he was visiting his sister who lived in the same town. There was a relationship between the two of them. Herwarth sent the periodical Der Sturm to Nell. In late 1911, Nell gets a position as a governess in a Swedish-German family in Berlin and meets Herwarth Walden again. They begin a relationship and in the fall of 1912 Nell and Herwarth marry. Nell quickly became involved with Der Sturm and in 1912 the Walden couple expanded the business to also include Galerie Der Sturm. This gallery gained immense importance in the history of art. The exhibition activity was started by showing the artist group Der Blaue Reiter and then the Italian Futurists were introduced to the German art lovers. Further examples of Galerie Der Sturm's importance include the fact that it was here that Marc Chagall had his first solo exhibition in 1914. Other artists who exhibited at the gallery included Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Edvard Munch, Jean Metzinger, Kurt Schwitters, and Nell Walden. The multi-talented Nell began studying painting at Der Sturm's art school in 1916 with teachers such as Lothar Schreyer and Georg Muche. Nell debuted the same year at a collection exhibition at Galerie Der Sturm. Between the years 1916 and 1925 she participated annually in the gallery's exhibitions in Berlin and in Der Sturm's walking exhibitions in Germany and internationally. The marriage between the two lasted from 1912-1924 and was dissolved at the request of Nell Walden. From 1926 to 1933, she was married to the physician Hans Hermann Heimann, who was later murdered by the Nazis. From 1940 she was married to the Swiss teacher Hannes Urech. Nell continued throughout her life with her artistry and collecting art. In connection with the opening of the Moderna museet in Stockholm in 1958, Nell Walden donated about forty works by significant modernist artists such as Alexander Archipenko, Gabriele Münter, Oskar Kokoschka and Sigrid Hjertén.