Rolf Nesch

Norwegian journalist Eivind Otto Hjelle (born 1927) tells the story of his friend, German printmaker Rolf Nesch (1893–1975), who fled Nazi Germany in 1933. The scenery, working life and artists such as Edvard Munch in his adopted home of Norway inspired Nesch's expressionist works.

Rolf Nesch (1893–1975) is recognized as the inventor of the so-called metal print technique. His career spanned more than fifty years, with a body of work that comprises 860 prints—a number of which have not previously been accessible to the public. The publication of this catalogue will allow everyone to see the quality of his entire graphic work and it will reveal its historical importance, for much of the printmaking of the 1950s emerged directly from the technical experimentation that Nesch had carried out earlier in the 1930s and 1940s. This catalogue raisonné is the result of years of extensive research carried out by Sidsel Helliesen and Bodil Sørensen of the National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design in Oslo. They worked in close collaboration with the artist’s family whose large collection, in addition to the museum’s, constitutes a major source. The attention to detail and the comprehensive text will make this book a standard reference work for many years to come.

Sidsel Helliesen is senior researcher at the National Museum, Oslo, and was head of the Department of Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery, Norway. Bodil Sørensen is senior curator at the National Museum, Oslo, and was curator of Department of Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery, Norway.