ALEXEJ VON JAWLENSKY | Hyazinthentöpfe (Hyacinth Pots)

Estate of the Artist
Frankfurter Kunstkabinett Hanna Bekker vom Rath, Frankfurt
Bank für Gemeinwirtschaft, Frankfurt (acquired by 1967)
Frankfurter Kunstkabinett Hanna Bekker vom Rath, Frankfurt
Private Collection, Europe (acquired from the above)
Thence by descent to the present owner

Frankfurt, Frankfurter Kunstkabinett, 9. Katalog, 1966, no. 88, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Hamburg, Kunstverein, & Frankfurt, Kunstverein, Alexej Jawlensky, 1967, no. 108, illustrated in the catalogue

(Probably) Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Köpfe, Gesichte, Meditationen, Hanau, 1970, no. 1286
Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky & Angelica Jawlensky (eds.), Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalogue raisonné of the Oil Paintings, London, 1991, vol. I, no. 48, illustrated in colour p. 88

The canvas is not lined and examination under UV light reveals no signs of retouching. There are some minor flecks of pigment loss in places. This work is in overall very good original condition.
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Hyazinthentöpfe is an exceptional example of Alexej von Jawlensky’s ability to transform traditional subject matter, such as a still life, into self-expression. Jawlensky’s experimentation with colour and application of paint is evidenced in the present work while the quick and determined brush strokes convey his unique vision of his subjects, removed from the bounds of realistic interpretation. Jawlensky best expressed this himself 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 the instrument] and I had to make that organ play. And nature, which was before me, only prompted me. And that was the key which unlocked the organ and made it play. At first it was difficult. But gradually I was able to find it easily, with colour and form, that which was in my soul. I painted very many pictures... They are songs without words’ (quoted in Alexei Jawlensky (exhibition catalogue), Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, 1964, p. 13).