Alexej von Jawlensky

Estate of the artist

Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York

Greta Garbo, New York (acquired from the above on 5th March 1970)

Thence by descent to the present owners

Düsseldorf, Galerie Alex Vömel, Ölbilder von Alexej von Jawlensky, 1956, no. 17

Cahier Noir (the artist's handlist), as Mystischer Kopf: Profil, p. 82

Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Cologne, 1959, no. 187, illustrated p. 240

Clemens Weiler, Jawlensky. Heads, Faces, Meditations, London, 1971, no. 175, listed p. 123

Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky & Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, London, 1992, vol. II, no. 879, illustrated p. 196

The artist's board is stable and is very slightly warped. There is no evidence of retouching under ultra-violet light. Apart from some very minor charactieristic frame rubbing to the extreme edges and a small area of paint loss to the painted border in the upper left corner (barely visible when framed), this work is in very good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Sotheby’s is honoured to present Jawlensky’s Mystischer Kopf: Profil from the private collection of the late Greta Garbo, legend of the silver screen and style icon of the twentieth century. Garbo was a connoisseur of avant-garde art; the collection she assembled, including paintings by Renoir, Bonnard, Rouault, Atlan, Poliakoff and others, was a testament to her personal elegance and irrepressible desire for bold colour. Garbo believed that ‘colour should make a room sing’, and the present work is a wonderful example from the chorus of vibrant works that once adorned her home in New York. This fascination with colour perhaps explains the particular place that Jawlensky held in her collection, and the luminous Mystischer Kopf: Profil presented here featured among several prime examples of the artist’s paintings between 1915 and 1918. Of Garbo’s eye for exceptional works of art, her friend Cécile de Rothschild once wrote: ‘Adventurous and far-sighted, she was not influenced by fashion, acquiring the Jawlenskys well before his work was widely sought after, for example. She taught me a great deal about how to look at art.’ Jawlensky’s Mystischer Kopf: Profil hung in Garbo’s sumptuous apartment overlooking the East River, where the legendary actress lived until her death in 1990.

Alexej von Jawlensky - Mystischer Kopf: Profil

Dating from 1917, Mystischer Kopf: Profil belongs to Jawlensky’s series of variations on the theme of the 'Mystical Head'. The composition is made up of patches of vibrant colours juxtaposed with bold black contours, and the spiritual quality of the image is enhanced by luminous colours and by the closed eyes of the figure. Jawlensky's relentless pursuit of his artistic ideals through the series marked him out as a uniquely gifted artist working towards a truly modern vision of art. Commenting on the variety of these serial works, Clemens Weiler has written: 'Jawlensky came to concentrate more and more on the human face as the bearer of emotion. Although his work has great depth and breadth of variation, he reduced his means of expression to a minimum' (C. Weiler, op. cit., 1971, p. 9).

In its format and composition Mystischer Kopf: Profil recalls the Russian Orthodox icons which Jawlensky encountered in his youth. The artist commented on this influence and remarked: 'I am Russian-born. As such my heart and soul have always felt close to old Russian art, to Russian icons, the art of Byzantium, the mosaics of Ravenna, Venice and Rome and the art of the Romanesque period. All these arts would set up a holy vibration in my soul, for they spoke to me in a language of deep spirituality. It was this art that gave me my tradition' (quoted in ibid., p. 11). At the same time, the present work draws on a rich tradition of modernist painting, including the art of, among others, Van Gogh, Matisse and Van Dongen. In 1905 Jawlensky’s works were exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in Paris alongside those of the Fauve artists, who were to play the most important role in the development of Jawlensky’s style in the following years. His abandoning of representational function of colour in favour of a more spontaneous, expressive one is strongly reminiscent of Matisse’s portraits at the height of his Fauve period.