Label Text
Many artists of the Modernist era, including Brancusi, Picasso, and Matisse, experimented with abstraction by depicting the human face with only the most basic use of line and shape. Jawlensky dedicated a large series to this pursuit, which would become his best known work. Like many of his contemporaries, he found inspiration not only in the folk art of his homeland (Russia ), but masks from Africa and Southeast Asia . Jawlensky intended his painting to be seen as both an abstract composition of color and shape and a mystical image of an archetypal human face.
Exhibition HistoryBraxton Gallery, Hollywood, CA, 1930, no. 35
“The Blue Four”, Art Gallery, Oakland, CA, 1931, cat. no. 20
“The Blue Four: Jawlensky and Paul Klee”, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA, 1931, cat. no. 28
“The Blue Four”, Chicago Arts Club, Chicago, IL, 1932, cat. no. 69
Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany, 1958, cat. no. 57
"A. Jawlensky," Galerie Aenne Abels, Cologne, West Germany, May 3 - 30, 1958, cat. no. 57
Galerie am Marientor, Nuremberg, Germany, 1959, cat. no. 27
Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany, 1959, cat. no. 32
Published ReferencesClemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Verlag M. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne, Germany, 1959, no. 316
Religious folk art and Russian-Orthodox iconography are clearly the basis for this rich, sympathetic visage, an image rather than a portrait, bathed in a glow of intense color.
Source: NEWS Jnauary February March 2004
Many artists of the Modernist era, including Brancusi, Picasso, and Matisse, experimented with abstraction by depicting the human face with only the most basic use of line and shape. Jawlensky dedicated a large series to this pursuit, which would become his best known work. Like many of his contemporaries, he found inspiration not only in the folk art of his homeland (
Exhibition HistoryBraxton Gallery, Hollywood, CA, 1930, no. 35
“The Blue Four”, Art Gallery, Oakland, CA, 1931, cat. no. 20
“The Blue Four: Jawlensky and Paul Klee”, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA, 1931, cat. no. 28
“The Blue Four”, Chicago Arts Club, Chicago, IL, 1932, cat. no. 69
Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany, 1958, cat. no. 57
"A. Jawlensky," Galerie Aenne Abels, Cologne, West Germany, May 3 - 30, 1958, cat. no. 57
Galerie am Marientor, Nuremberg, Germany, 1959, cat. no. 27
Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany, 1959, cat. no. 32
Published ReferencesClemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Verlag M. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne, Germany, 1959, no. 316
DimensionsFrame: 21 1/2 × 17 3/4 in. (54.6 × 45.1 cm)
Canvas (/image): 17 × 13 5/16 in. (43.2 × 33.8 cm)
Canvas (/image): 17 × 13 5/16 in. (43.2 × 33.8 cm)
Accession Number 2003.271
Classificationspainting
CopyrightPublic Domain
SignedA Jawlensky (verso center)
InscriptionsA. K. 1927 "Inneres Schauen" Grau-Blau-Rosa (verso center)
ProvenanceArtist, Germany; Galka Scheyer, Hollywood, CA [acquired from the previous, 1928]; Artist’s Estate, Locarno, Switzerland [returned from the previous, after 1932]; Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, Los Angeles [acquired from the previous, 1959]. Hutton-Hutschnecker Gallery, New York, [acquired between 1969-1971]; Jacqueline and Myron Blank [acquired from the previous, by 1992]; Des Moines Art Center [gift of the previous, 2003]
Collections
Christian Ludwig von Hagedorn
published 1743
