Sale: 539 / Modern Art Day Sale, June 10. 2023 in Munich Lot 398

 

398
Alexej von Jawlensky
Stillleben: Blumen im Gegenlicht, 1936.
Oil on paper with a canvas-structure, on board
Estimate:
€ 50,000 / $ 54,000
Sold:
€ 57,150 / $ 61,722

(incl. surcharge)
Stillleben: Blumen im Gegenlicht. 1936.
Oil on paper with a canvas-structure, on board.
Jawlensky/Pieroni-Jawlensky/Jawlensky 1872. Lower left monogrammed, lower right dated. On the reverse inscribed with the artist's name, the date "1936 III" and "N. 20" by Lisa Kümmel. There also titled and inscribed "MP" and with the dimensions (trimmed) by Andreas Jawlensky, the artist's son. 17 x 12.5 cm (6.6 x 4.9 in). [CH].
Alexej von Jawlensky gifted this painting as part of a portfolio with 16 late still lifes to Helene Jawlensky (1885–1965) on January 10, 1939. It remained in her possession until her death in 1965.
• Important provenance: In 1939 Alexej von Jawlensky gave the work to his wife Helene von Jawlensky as a gift.
• In strong and intense colors with rich contrast.
• In this work Jawlensky attained a degree of formal reduction and abstraction that is unmatched by any other of his flower still lifes and which can only be found in his "Meditations".
• In comparison with Jawlensky's other work series, his flower still lifes make for a rather small group.
• Using bright colors, dark contours, geometric forms, a flat color application and small dabs, the artist created a composition that may well be considered unique in his work groups of a serial character
.

PROVENANCE: Helene Jawlensky Collection (1885–1965, the artist's wife, obtained as present from the artist on January 10, 1939).
Andreas Jawlensky / artist's estate (inherited from the above in 1965).
Maria Jawlensky (inherited from the above in 1984).
Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York (acquired from the above in 1986).
Private collection Southern Germany.

EXHIBITION: Jawlensky. Father and Son, Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York, March 20 - May 30, 1987, cat. no. 65 (with color illu., p. 54).
Alexej von Jawlensky - Andreas Jawlensky. Vater und Sohn, Galerie Ludorff, Düsseldorf, 1993/94, p. 20 (with color illu.).

LITERATURE: Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky. Köpfe, Gesichte, Meditationen, Hanau 1970, no. 1360.
Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky and Angelica Jawlensky Bianconi, Alexej von Jawlensky. Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, vol. 3, 1934-1937, London 1993, cat. no. 1872, p. 218 (with color illu., p. 235).
Karl & Faber, Munich, 192nd auction, December 3/4, 1996, lot 548 (with color illu., plate 23).

At the time the work offered here was created, Jawlensky was living quite secluded in his Wiesbaden apartment. Since 1927, the artist had been suffering from arthritis that flared up time and again, and which immensely restricted his freedom of movement, at times it even tied him to his bed and soon forced him to express his great wealth of ideas and his immense artistic creativity in smaller formats. As early as in 1934, Jawlensky had to use his left hand to help with painting and guiding the brush: "I can only hold the brush with two hands, otherwise it doesn't work, and that's why I now have a different technique and therefore a different expression." (Jawlensky in a letter to Galka Scheyer, Sept. 1934, quoted from: Bernd Fäthke, Jawlensky und seine Weggefährten in neuem Licht, Munich 2004, p. 208) Despite enormous physical restrictions, Jawlensky achieved - also in his own opinion - the highlight and crowning achievement of his artistic work in the mid-1930s: "The things are really very mature, deeply human and mysterious. I love these works very much [.]. It seems to me that this is the highest thing I've ever done." (ibid.)
The present work documents the turn towards an ever more consistent abstraction, from which the famous "Meditations" also developed in the same creative years from 1934 to 1937. Works in which Jawlensky achieved the highest level of perfection in his serial painting. Although the depiction shows just a vase with flowers in front of an illuminated background, the artist abstracts and alienates the motif to such an extent that, in terms of composition, color scheme, execution and style, it rather resembles the Meditations than other flower still lifes from this period. Jawlensky focuses on the strong light-dark contrast, the luminous, contrasting primary colors and thus creates a work characterized by great depth and deeply felt melancholy. [CH]



398
Alexej von Jawlensky
Stillleben: Blumen im Gegenlicht, 1936.
Oil on paper with a canvas-structure, on board
Estimate:
€ 50,000 / $ 54,000
Sold:
€ 57,150 / $ 61,722

(incl. surcharge)