Alexej von Jawlensky

Dr. Otto Fischer, Stuttgart & Basel (acquired in Munich in 1911)
Sale: Kornfeld & Klipstein, Bern, June, 1980, lot 582
Trudi Neuburg-Coray, Ascona
Wolfgang Wittrock Kunsthandel, Düsseldorf

Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky & Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, vol. I, London, 1991, no. 339, illustrated p. 283

Work is in very good condition. Board is stable. A few small losses to extreme perimeter of sheet. Areas of visible sheet appear somewhat time darkened. Under UV light: no inpainting is apparent.
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.

On the cusp between abstraction and figuration, Jawlensky’s Sitzender halbakt geneigt mit langen haaren from circa 1910 marvelously transforms a traditional portrait with essential color and purity of line. A most-prized subject for the artist, the human figure was Jawlensky’s leitmotif for escaping strict temporality, allowing him a means to convey the inner soul. The sitter is stripped from any material attributes, her status thereby elevated in visual terms to that of the quasi-divine or ethereal nymph, while the artist’s dynamic brushstrokes and bright palette confer upon her an aura of magnetism.

Jawlensky’s encounter with Matisse and Van Dongen in 1905, shortly after the Fauve’s first exhibition at the Salon d’Automne, was a probable catalyst for his acceptance of color as a primary means of visual expression. Jawlensky believed that color communicated the complex emotions of his subjects, writing, “human faces are for me the only suggestions to see something else in them—the life of colour, seized with a lover’s passion” (quoted in Clemens Weiler, Jawlensky Heads Faces Meditations, London, 1971, p. 12). Such ideals were promoted in his theories, published in Der Blaue Reiter Almanach, the arts periodical he founded in 1911, and they served to emphasize the aesthetic tenets of the Neue Künstlervereinigung, an independent artist group pioneered by Wassily Kandinsky.

The elegance of Jawlensky’s nude in the present work is rendered through the homogenous use of deep emerald green, powerfully contrasting the fiery bright red of the background. Such strong complementary colors echo the natural elements of vegetation and fire which, along with the figure’s unkempt jet-black hair, suggest her primitive state and continual transformation. Her bold and striking features prefigure many works from Jawlensky’s later Meditations series, and they offer a glimpse into the artist’s concerns with representing spirituality in art. Jawlensky meanwhile fervently conveys the sensuality of his subject, especially as her frontal pose and quasi-defiant gaze directly confront the viewer.