Alexej von Jawlensky

Estate of the artist
Galerie Beyeler, Basel (acquired from the above in 1957)
Private Collection, Locarno
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
Samuel & Luella Maslon, New York (acquired from the above in 1960 and sold: Sotheby’s, New York, May 9, 2002, lot 242)
Acquired at the above sale

New York, Sidney Janis Gallery, Jawlensky, 1957, no. 33
Minneapolis, The Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, Drawings, Paintings & Sculpture from Three Private Collections, 1960, no. 84

Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Cologne, 1959, no. 292, illustrated p. 248
Clemes Weiler, Jawlensky, Heads, Faces, Meditations, London, 1970, no. 198, illustrated p. 123
Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky & Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1914-1933, vol. II, London, 1992, no. 1173, illustrated p. 348

Board is stable. The board is very slightly bowing at center and there are small scuffs to the extreme upper left and lower right corners of the board. Under UV light: no inpainting is apparent. This work is in excellent condition.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

According to Clemens Weiler, the human face was the principal means through which Jawlensky attempted to express the inner soul. As the artist had “found the perfect expression for his Eastern piety and mysticism,” he felt compelled to revisit this subject as his styles developed over time (Clemens Weiler, op. cit., 11). In a letter dated June 12, 1938, to his friend and fellow painter Father Willibrord Verkade, Jawlensky wrote: “I went on painting these variations for several years, and then it became necessary for me to find a form for the face, for I realized that great art was only to be painted with religious feeling. And that was something I could bring only to the human face. I realized that the artist must express in his art through the forms and colors that within him which is divine. That is why the work of art is a visible God, and why art is ‘a longing for God’” (as quoted in ibid., p. 108).

In 1921, after a period of exile in Switzerland instigated by World War I, Jawlensky returned to Germany and moved to the town of Wiesbaden. Here he returned to the subject of the human face with a revitalized interest. While the present work is part of a smaller sub-group painted in 1922, there are compositional elements consistent with many of his other series. In Frauenkopf, Femina Jawlensky juxtaposes stylized forms and shades of color, a technique also seen in his series of Variations landscapes and Mystical heads. Also characteristic of the earlier head series is the nose, which is depicted with a strong, L-shaped line, and the eyes, with their wide open and piercing gaze. Yet Jawlensky began to pare down and simplify the elements. The structure of the face is rendered with a few simple brushstrokes. The hair is suggested through a few soft lines, which are complemented by the slanting horizontal lines of the mouth. The right cheek takes shape through a pink oval, utilizing both a shade and form that is repeated throughout the composition. The result, as Clemens Weiler writes, is “Synthesis, harmony and perfection,” and it foreshadows yet another series to come, the famed Abstract Heads (ibid., p. 16).