Alexej von Jawlensky

A gift from the artist to the grandfather of the present owner in Baden in 1933 

Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky & Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1914-1933, London, 1992, vol. II, no. 1323, illustrated in colour p. 450

Linen-finished paper laid down on board. There is a 0.5 by 2cm. spot of retouching to the left eyebrow a nailhead-sized spot of retouching to the right eyelid and another nailhead-sized spot to the left of the nose at the centre of the work. There are some scattered specks of retouching towards the lower right corner. All retouching is visible under UV light. Apart from a small nailhead-sized spot of retouching to the mouth, this work is in good condition. Colours: The colours are more subtle in the original.
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Jawlensky's œuvre is dominated by several series of paintings which explore the motif of the abstracted human face. The series was first conceived in 1918 and continued until 1935. Throughout the series the individual facial features become increasingly more stylised and abstracted whilst the colouration of the paintings becomes ever more iridescent. The present work, Abstrakter Kopf: Frauenkopf, belongs to a group of 'Abstract Heads' in which bold patches of colour are segregated by a grid of predominantly vertical and horizontal lines. The paint surface is animated by the short, staccato brushstrokes which are juxtaposed with the rigidity of the abstract composition. Although not entirely symmetrical, the typically long, U-shaped face has a strong sense of balance and harmony, created by the even distribution of colours according to their saturation and the warmth of their hues.

For Jawlensky, the aesthetic harmony afforded by an abstract technique was the perfect visual expression for his growing interest in Indian philosophy and the life of Indian yogis. The meditative closed eyes and the overall reduction of the composition to the purest of pictorial elements suggests the strong influence that this interest had on the series. The effect is to convey a sense of universal spirituality that represents a Modernist parallel to the Symbolist movement in the nineteenth century. Reflecting on Jawlensky's series of 'Abstract Heads', Clemens Weiler observed that he 'created with the variations the requisite instrument, the key to discovering the inner sound of a natural being. It was only logical that he could only represent the harmony he had been seeking for years, by dint of constant practice, in the human face, for only there do inside and outside, man and world, nature and soul meet, where 'religion', in the truest sense of the word, takes place' (C. Weiler, Alexej von Jawlensky (exhibition catalogue), Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1994, p. 220).