Alexej von Jawlensky

Olaf Hudtwalcker, Frankfurt
Galerie Kornfeld, Bern (and sold: Kilpstein & Kornfeld, Bern, June 8, 1961, lot 43)
Private Collection, Switzerland (acquired at the above sale)
Thence by descent

Basel, Atelier Riehentor, Jawlensky, 1959, n.n.

Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni Jawlensky & Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalogue Raisonné of His Oil Paintings, vol. III, Munich, 1993, no. 2261, illustrated p. 415

This painting is in good condition and can be hung as is. The paint layer is stable. The canvas on which it is painted is mounted on a piece of board. It seems that this support is original. The work is well cleaned and very softly varnished. Under ultraviolet light, some brushstrokes within the still life are dark, but they do not seem to correspond to retouching or later paint. There are a couple of retouches within the black stripe around the extreme edge, but there do not appear to be any retouches within the still life itself. The above condition report has been prepared by Simon Parkes, an independent conservator who is not an employee of Sotheby's.
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.

Stillleben is a prime example of Jawlensky's facility for transforming a traditional subject into a mode of pure self-expression. He wrote in a letter of 1908: “I now began to seek a new way in art. It was a great task. I understood that I must not paint that which I saw, not even that which I felt, but only that which lived within me. Metaphorically speaking it is thus: I felt within me, within my breast, an organ (as in a church), and I had to make that organ play. And nature, which was before me, only prompted me. And that was the key which unlocked this organ and made it play. At first it was difficult. But gradually I was able to find easily, with color and form, that which was in my soul. I painted very many pictures... They are songs without words” (quoted in James T. Demetrion, Alexei Jawlensky (exhibition catalogue), Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, 1964, p. 13).

 

Fig. 1 Henri Matisse, Nature morte au magnolia, 1941, oil on canvas, Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris