Alexej von Jawlensky

Günther Franke, Munich
Sale: Sotheby's, London, 5th December 1973, lot 79
Private Collection, Germany
Sale: Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, June 1976, lot 708
Private Collection, Germany
Thence by descent to the present owner

Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky & Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej Jawlensky. Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1890-1914, London, 1991, vol. I, no. 422, illustrated p. 331

The board has been laid on another board and is stable. There is a layer of varnish which prevents the UV light from fully penetrating, although UV examination does reveal two fine lines and small spots of retouching, the most prominent of which are to the upper left quadrant and to the right of the window. There is some minor paint shrinkage in places (mainly to the central horizontal band) and some minor frame abrasion to the extreme edges. Otherwise, this work is in overall good condition. Colours: overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue, though the greens are slightly brighter in the original.
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This pulsing composition dating from circa 1911 marks the beginning of Jawlensky's involvement with the Blaue Reiter group, and reflects the varied stylistic concerns that preoccupied the artist and the German avant-garde during the early 20th century, an exciting period in which he met artists of the calibre of Matisse, van Dongen, and Campendonk.

In 1911, Jawlensky was living in Munich and working closely with fellow Russian artist, Wassily Kandinsky of the independent artist group known as Neue Künstlervereinigung. One year later Kandinsky founded Der Blaue Reiter, an arts periodical that promoted the ideas of this new group and expounded on the value of colour and the aesthetic influences of Eastern European folk art. Jawlensky was greatly affected by the ideas of his colleagues, and developed his own expressive style of painting using bold colour patches and strong black outlines as visible in Kirche im Prerow.

The present work is a captivating example of his new style, with bold, fiery colours, and illustrates the concerns of this wave of German Expressionism. In the spring of 1911 Jawlensky visited Prerow, on the Baltic, with his partner Marianne von Werefkin, also a painter. Towards the end of his life, he recounts to his friend and assistant Lisa Kümmel that his visit had led him to execute the 'best landscapes and large figure works...in very strong, glowing colours', marking a 'turning-point' in his art (quoted in Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky & Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej Jawlensky. Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1890-1914, London, 1991, p. 18). The principal subject matter, perhaps depicting the oldest Lutheran Church in the region, condenses Jawlensky's interest in a more spiritual type of art, one which appeals to colour and emotion and which prevailed throughout his subsequent works.  Jawlensky parallels nature and spirituality; the branches of the trees on the left foreground almost seem to merge into the shape and supporting structure of the Church. These further parallel the undulating lines created by the tree trunks, echoing the shape of the large glass windows as well as emphasising the sharp and short brush strokes executed in rapid movements. Compositionally, the various elements employed by Jawlensky become one, much like his credo that art should go beyond mere materiality, and into the souls of things, into the vital elements of life.