Sale: 459 / Modern Art I, Dec. 09. 2017 in Munich Lot 651

 

651
Alexej von Jawlensky
Grosse Meditation: Fegefeuer I, 1937.
Oil on paper
Estimate:
€ 80,000 / $ 86,400
Sold:
€ 100,000 / $ 108,000

(incl. surcharge)
Grosse Meditation: Fegefeuer I. 1937.
Oil on paper , laminated on firm board and mounted on fiberboard.
Jawlensky/Pieroni-Jawlensky 2185. Lower left monogrammiert and lower right dated. Verso inscribed "A. Jawlensky IV 1937 N. 20" by Lisa Kümmel and inscribed "Grosse Meditation LXIX / Fegefeuer" by the artist's son. 25.2 x 16.5 cm (9.9 x 6.4 in).

Accompanied by a confirmation from Maria Jawlensky dated 21st January 1990 (in copy).

PROVENANCE: From the artist's estate (until 1969).
Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, Los Angeles.
Virginia Steele Scott Foundation, Pasadena/California.
Christie´s New York, 13 May 1980, lot 61, with color illu.
Private collection Germany.
Private collection Hamburg.

EXHIBITION: Alexej Jawlensky, Saarlandmuseum Saarbrücken 5 July – 7 August 1957, no. 13.\b
Andreas und Alexej von Jawlensky, Basel, Atelier Riehentor, no. 8 (with the title "Meditation LXIX 1937/IV Nr. 20").
A Centennial exhibition of paintings by Alexej Jawlensky, Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York, no. 78.
225 Jahre danach, Galerie Thomas, Munich 17 February – 28 April 1990, cat. no. 24, with illu.
Alexej von Jawlensky und sein Kreis, Galerie Neher, Essen 27 April – 29 June, with illu. on p. 63.
Montes Vermächtnis. Serie Ordung und Obession, Kunsthalle Hamburg, 2001, with illu. on p. 87.

Jawlensky wrote in his memoirs: "My last period of works has very small formats, but the pictures are deeper and more spiritual, only the colors speak. Because of my illness I felt that I would not be able to work in the future, so I worked like crazy on my small meditations. And now I am leaving these small but important works to those who love art."
Alexej von Jawlensky, quote in: Tayfun Belgin (editor), Alexej von Jawlensky, Reisen, Freunde, Wandlungen, ex. cat. Dortmund 1998, p. 119.

Based on the expressive portraits from his early period of creation, Jawlensky created ever more striking and deeper pictures over the years, free from any individual properties, it is the graphic vision alone that makes for the essence of his quest for the inner image. The key element is always a color interpretation of the inner state which Jawlensky summarizes in a composition of the meditative and inaccessible. Any sense for details, which are nothing else but distraction, is impossible. The concentration to the icon, which had been attained through a long process, the face behind the actual face, that is the secret behind these deep creations. Within the artist's oeuvre, the Meditations are an independent comprehensive work complex that decisively characterized Jawlensky's artistic creation. Owed to his contemplative character and his extraordinary formal strictness, Jawlensky occupies a prime rank in European art history. [JS]



651
Alexej von Jawlensky
Grosse Meditation: Fegefeuer I, 1937.
Oil on paper
Estimate:
€ 80,000 / $ 86,400
Sold:
€ 100,000 / $ 108,000

(incl. surcharge)