Page 50 - Studio International - July 1966

Nele : menace in miniature

London commentary by Charles S.Spencer

Born Berlin 1932; Studied at Nele, a small, neat woman, is an all-round professional. thing remains of the Beckett-like sadness, angularity,
Central School of Arts and She has achieved considerable success in graphics, jewel- jagged menace of these machine remnants, car spares
Crafts, London, and Berlin
Academy of Art; Studied lery, sculpture, and stage design, including a number of and old boxes, and contributes to the final atmospheric
lithography at Studio commissions and prizes. image. Her first maquettes are made from these materi-
Lacourière, Paris; First one- Superficially her sculpture bears a resemblance to the als; the combinations seem so inevitable that they almost
man exhibition 1956
(jewellery); First showed in work of Gunter Haese, another German sculptor who look as though the elements were self-propelled on to a
London at the Molton Gallery recently showed in London; they both make small, magnet, spontaneously arranged of their own accord.
1960; again in 1962; current almost miniature, jewel-like constructions, pleasing and Cast first in wax and then in bronze, they take on forms
London exhibition at the
Hamilton Gallery. at the same time strangely disturbing. On closer study which combine all the qualities of the contributory elem-
Major group shows include Nele emerges as a more virile, direct and intuitive artist, ents and a new organic finality.
Milan Triennale, Antwerp making up in emotive power what she may lack in tactile During her student days in London, Nele worked for a
Sculpture Biennale, Kassel
Documenta, Carnegie elegance. In fact, I do not think the latter is a failing; while with Henry Moore, and was attracted to the work
Institute (Pittsburgh), Marzotto Nele makes no submissive obeisance to please or engage of younger English sculptors such as Armitage, Chadwick,
Prize and Venice Biennale. your sympathy. One of her positive qualities is the and Paolozzi. Their influence remains, particularly that
Commissions: 1958 Brussells
World Fair; Hilton Hotel, absorption in a private world of imagery and technical of Chadwick's flat, angular shapes in his earlier work. But
Berlin; Intercontinental curiosity which is never finicky or claustrophobic. The a more positive effect is derived from Paolozzi, which
Hotel, Frankfurt; the complex experience which has helped form her work com- Nele has interpreted with feminine intimacy into smaller,
Gewerbuschule, Kassel. more intimate forms. Whereas Paolozzi is concerned with
Stage designs for Hesse State municates itself to the viewer.
Theatre, Kassel. This distinct personality is compounded of many facets the total, overall statement, a powerful, single image,
and reminders, so that any attempt to analyse or distin- Nele is still deeply involved in the original elements,
guish them carries the danger of suggested superficiality whose quality and effect is never quite lost.
or imitation. The scrap-heap origin of her material holds As a German writer has said, any attempt at describing
both the menace of Tajiri and the ironic comment of Nele's visual world is to enter 'a world of contradictions'.
Tinguely; her forms have something of the faux-naif gro- There is a child-like primitivism about it, a playing with
tesqueness of Dubuffet and a primitive, totemism reminis- toys, but guided by a sophisticated intelligence which
cent of Max Ernst. There are all kinds of surrealistic, almost unwittingly uncovers significant human fears and
symbolic, even literary echoes. Indeed the magpie motives. Thus, no matter how intuitively she collates the
character of her art also includes her skill as a graphic scrap objects, guided by a refined skill in design, the
designer, the constructivist basis of her jewellery, the forms invariably end up as spiky and menacing. She her-
monumental effect of her stage work; all are present in self has commented: 'Sometimes faces and paintings
the sculpture with its assemblage structure, its dominant force themselves on me as if in dreams, which one cannot
linear rhythms and engaging theatricality. forget; friendly faces, but also others of which I am afraid.
The scrap-heap, as I have said, is the initial source; They do not let me go until I have sculpted them. The
although the material is eventually transformed, some- sculptures which I have made under these circumstances,

Left Above
Framed torso 1965 Head 1965
Bronze Bronze