Alexej von Jawlensky

Estate of the artist
Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York (acquired by 1966)
Matthew Futter, New York 
Private Collection, Beverly Hills (acquired circa 1970)
Thence by descent

Paris, Grand Palais, Salon d'Automne, 3éme exposition, 1905, no. 770
Munich, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Alexej von Jawlensky, 1964, no. 16
New York, Leonard Hutton Galleries, A Centennial Exhibition of Paintings by Alexej Jawlensky, 1965, no. 16
Baltimore, Baltimore Museum of Art, Paintings by Alexej Jawlensky, A Selection from Each Year 1901 to 1917, 1965, no. 16

Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Cologne, 1959, no. 702, illustrated p. 277
Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Köpfe, Gesichte, Meditationen, Haau, 1970, no. 1294
Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky & Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, vol. I, London, 1991, no. 75, illustrated in color p. 95

Canvas is unlined. Colors are bright and fresh and their is a rich layer of impasto that is well preserved. Some slight undulation to the canvas, especially at upper left and a horizontal raise to the canvas two inches below top, possibly evidence of an old stretcher bar. Some minor frame abrasion around the extreme perimeter. Under UV light a stroke of inpainting is visible near upper right corner at extreme right edge and an area of pooling varnish at lower right is visible. Some original pigments fluoresce but no other inpainting is apparent. This work is in generally very good condition.
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Mixed Pickles 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 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, Alexej Jawlensky (exhibition catalogue), Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, 1964, p. 13).