Sale: 459 / Modern Art I, Dec. 09. 2017 in Munich Lot 645

 

645
Alexej von Jawlensky
Abstrakter Kopf: Orient - Verhaltene Glut, 1932.
Oil on cardboard
Estimate:
€ 150,000 / $ 162,000
Sold:
€ 175,000 / $ 189,000

(incl. surcharge)
Abstrakter Kopf: Orient - Verhaltene Glut. 1932.
Oil on cardboard laid on cardboard and on panel.
Jawlensky/ Pieroni-Jawlensky 1405. Lower left monogrammed. Lower right datedd. Verso inscribed "Alexej von Jawlensky Konstruktive Köpfe 'Orient - Verhatene [sic!] Glut 1932" by a hand other than that of the artist, as well as with dimensions and the technique (presumably imitating the original inscription on verso). 30.4 x 23.8 cm (11.9 x 9.3 in). Backing board: 30,5 x 24,5 cm ( 12 x 9,6 in).

PROVENANCE: From the artist's estate.
Galerie Wilhelm Großhennig, Düsseldorf, 1965.
Private collection Düsseldorf.
Private collection North Rhine-Westphalia.

EXHIBITION: Alexej von Jawlensky. Galerie Alex Vömel, Düsseldorf, 1st October - 15 November 1956 no. 25.
Alexej von Jawlensky. Kunsthalle, Bern, 11 May - 16 June 1957, no. 74.
Alexej von Jawlensky. Kunstverein für die Rheinlade und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, 2nd - 29 September 1957/ Kunstverein Hamburg, October - November 1957, cat. no. 84.
Alexej von Jawlensky. Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, 2nd February - 16 March 1958/ Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim, 22 March - 20 April 1958, no. 93.
Alexej von Jawlensky. Galerie Krugier, Geneva, February 1963, no. 53.
Auserlesene Meisterwerke des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts. Galerie Wilhelm Großhennig, Düsseldorf, 1963/64, color illu. on page 19.
Meisterweke des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts,. Galerie Wilhelm Großhennig, Düsseldorf 20. November 1964 - 31 January 1965, color illu. on page 21.
Alexej von Jawlensky, Gemälde 1908 - 1937. Wolfgang Wittrock Kunsthandel, Düsseldorf, September - October 1986, no. 27 with color illu. on page 59 .

LITERATURE: Clemens Weiler. Alexej Jawlensky, Cologne 1959, p. 254, no. 369 with illu.
"Finding the right form for the face was crucial to me. I had realized that great art could only be made with deeply religious feelings, which I could only express through the hman face. I understood that artists express theri inner divinity tthrough forms and colors, This is why God is visible in the artwork and art is the longiong for God."
A.v.Jawlensky quote in Alexej Jawlensky, Gal. Wittrock, 1986, p.12

The pictorial achievements of Alexej Jawlensky made were largely realized through portraits. Initially in a realistic Post-Impressionism, soon followed by an Expressionism characterized by intense colors, he eventually attained the calm paths of a contemplative painting of the supernatural and spiritual, of which the Meditations are the most remarkable documents. It is the same motif of an abstract head following a pictorial scheme in surface and contour, which Jawlensky takes to visual perfection in a selective examination of the spiritual. By making ever new approaches to reveal the face behind the portrait - the icon – Jawlensky created one-of-a-kind documents of the exploration of the spiritual and abstract, these accomplishments are inimitable in the history of art in the first half of the 20th century. The observer feels the painter's almost religious immersion in a distanced and subtle manner, calling reminiscence of orthodox icons, in which the schematic spiritual portrait is a visual message of salvation. But Jawlensky goes a step further. Even the variation already shows the actual intention of his artistic occupation with this difficult theme. Jawlensky's Meditations can be understood and internalized under various aspects. One the one hand on basis of their clearly pictorial expression, but also by their spiritual and religious standards, which, to Alexej von Jawlensky, is the key message of his works. [KD]



645
Alexej von Jawlensky
Abstrakter Kopf: Orient - Verhaltene Glut, 1932.
Oil on cardboard
Estimate:
€ 150,000 / $ 162,000
Sold:
€ 175,000 / $ 189,000

(incl. surcharge)