Alexej von Jawlensky

Galka E. Scheyer, Los Angeles (acquired directly from the artist in 1933)
Jim Sharp, San Francisco
Feigen-Palmer Gallery, Los Angeles
Private Collection, Los Angeles (acquired from the above in 1966 and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 6, 2010, lot 370)
Acquired at the above sale 

Oakland, California, Mills College Art Gallery, Modern Paintings and Sculpture from Private Collections in the San Francisco Bay Region, 1937, no. 29

Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky & Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1934-37, vol. III, London, 1992, no. 2260, illustrated in color p. 396

This work is in overall very good condition. The board is stable. UV examination reveals a few very small retouchings to the edges. Some minor wear with tiny paint losses to the upper extreme edge and lower part of the extreme right edge. A few very tiny paint losses to the lower half of the upper left quadrant.
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.

Abstrakter Kopf: Blau-Rot exemplifies Jawlensky’s fixation on the human face, which he rendered as a subject repeatedly and consistently throughout his career. Early on he created each face with bright color and bold lines, imbuing each element with a unique meaning. As the artist stated, “For me the face is not just a face but the whole universe. In the face the whole universe becomes manifest” (quoted in Clemens Weiler, Heads, Faces, Meditations, Cologne, 1970, p. 56). During this early stage in his career, alongside other Expressionists such as Wassily Kandinsky, he focused on the rendering of bright, hot colors, but this mature composition deviates from this method, deriving its spirituality from more simplified geometric forms and a palette of deep blues, golden and reddish browns and brighter strokes of red in which he emphasizes emotive impact.

Painting was a very spiritual experience for Jawlensky. In a letter written to his friend Galka E. Scheyer, he expresses, “I paint only that which is in my soul, which lies deep within me like a meditation… my language is color. Now I paint pictures as big as this sheet of paper as well as some bigger ones. The pictures are mostly dark… The colors are so mysterious, so deep… always from another world” (quoted in Alexei Jawlensky A Centennial Exhibition (exhibition catalogue) Pasadena Art Museum, Los Angeles, 1964, p. 65).

Resulting in part from his Russian Orthodox upbringing, Jawlensky derived much of his inspiration from spirituality and religion. Abstrakter Kopf: Blau-Rot is reminiscent of some of the traditional iconography he witnessed in his adolescence, and even evokes a sense of piety and mysticism inherent especially in Jalwensky’s later oeuvre. He imbues this work with a contemplative atmosphere, abstracting the human face into bold, planar forms and using a simple color palette. As the artist further stated, “For a few years I painted these variations and then it became necessary for me to find a form for the face, for I realized that great art should only be painted with religious feeling, and that was something I could only bring to the human face. I understood that in his art, the artist must use form and colour to say what is divine to him” (quoted in Masters of Colour: Derain to Kandinsky (exhibition catalogue), Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2002, p. 142).