Portrait of Alexej Jawlensky

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Marianne von Werefkin : Portrait of Alexej Jawlensky , 1896, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus

Portrait of Alexej Jawlensky is the title of a painting that the Russian artist Marianne von Werefkin painted in Saint Petersburg or Munich in 1896 . The work belongs to the inventory of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich and has the inventory number G 13582.

Technique, dimensions, dating and acquisition

It is an oil painting on canvas , 42 × 24.5 cm. The painting is dated on the reverse: "1896". It was acquired in 1966 by the Gurlitt Gallery in Munich.

First exhibition in Munich

In January 1966 - a year after the death of Wolfgang Gurlitt - the painting was exhibited for the first time without a catalog. The Handelsblatt reported: “The Gurlitt Gallery under the Hofgarten-Arkaden shows pictures and pencil drawings by Marianne von Werefkin. A portrait of Jawlensky, still painted in the academic style of Ilya Repin (blond goatee , black tailcoat and white shirt- front is underneath), painted in 1896, shortly before or after the two of them moved from Petersburg to Munich. Most of the works are for sale (6,800 to 1,800 DM). "

iconography

Half-profile, bald and corpulent, Jawlensky stands knee-high in front of a dark, almost black, undifferentiated background, from which the black of his tailcoat hardly differs. As a contrast, the bright white of his shirt stands out in relief , as does that of the indicated cuff on the right arm. Apart from the fact that the background does not cover the entire picture surface, the structure of the canvas can be recognized through the layer of paint. The head and hands are not yet finished. The eyes, nose, mouth and ears are sketchy in character.

style

Portrait of Dmitri Kardowski , 1896/97 painted by Ilja Eefimowitsch Repin (1844–1930), oil on canvas

Jawlensky's figure is only laid out with brief brushstrokes. Stylistically, the painting can be related to Werefkin's self-portrait in a sailor's blouse from 1893, when she was called “the Russian Rembrandt.” At that time she used to apply the paint pastose on the canvas, so she thought of Repin et al. a. with the nickname "Velasquez" , who was a model for his and also her painting. This is illustrated by Repin's portrait of Kardowski .

Saint Petersburg or Munich?

Nobody can say with certainty where Werefkin began to sketch Jawlensky's portrait, only to then no longer complete it. It is considered to be the last picture she painted in 1896 before she resumed painting in an expressionist manner in Provence in 1906 . During the period of her artistic abstinence, not even a single sketch can be proven. The year 1896 began for Werefkin with a bereavement that touched her very much. Her father Vladimir Werefkin, the fortress commander of the Peter and Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg, died on January 13, 1896. Very soon afterwards, “Werefkin and Jawlensky went on an educational trip lasting several weeks. They visited museum cities like Berlin , Dresden , Cologne , Antwerp , London and Paris together . ”In autumn they decided on Munich as their adopted home and on October 27, 1896 they moved into a double apartment there with the house owner Thalmaier at 23 Giselastraße on the third floor. It was an apartment equipped according to the latest standard. Werefkin's servants " Helene Nesnakomoff came with me to personally attend to the Werefkin."

literature

  • Clemens Weiler : Marianne von Werefkin. In exh. Cat .: Marianne Werefkin 1860–1938. Municipal Museum Wiesbaden 1958
  • Bernd Fäthke: Marianne Werefkin. Munich 2001. ISBN 3-7774-9040-7
  • Brigitte Roßbeck: Marianne von Werefkin, The Russian from the circle of the Blue Rider. Munich 2010.
  • Isabell Schenk-Weininger (Ed.): Marianne Werefkin, From the Blue Rider to the Great Bear. Exhibition catalog, Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen 2014.
  • Bernd Fäthke : Marianne Werefkin: Clemens Weiler's Legacy. In: Marianne Werefkin and the Women Artists in her Circle. (Tanja Malycheva and Isabel Wünsche eds.), Leiden / Boston 2016 (English), pp. 8–19, ISBN 978-9-0043-2897-6

Individual evidence

  1. Rosel Gollek: The Blue Rider in the Lenbachhaus Munich, catalog the collection at the Municipal Gallery. Munich 1974, cat.no.G 13582, p. 254, b / w-fig. P. 254.
  2. r-sch, Handelsblatt, Deutsche Wirtschaftszeitung, Friday / Saturday 18./19. January 1966.
  3. Clemens Weiler: Marianne von Werefkin. In exh. Cat .: Marianne Werefkin 1860-1938. Municipal Museum Wiesbaden 1958, undated, (p. 3).
  4. Bernd Fäthke: Marianne Werefkin. Munich 2001, p. 39, ISBN 3-7774-9040-7
  5. Bernd Fäthke: Sturm im Wasserglas, New Findings on the Origin of Abstract Art? WELTKUNST, Volume 73, No. 6, June 2003, p. 866 f
  6. Brigitte Roßbeck: Marianne von Werefkin, The Russian woman from the circle of the Blue Rider. Munich 2010, p. 54
  7. Brigitte Roßbeck: Marianne von Werefkin, The Russian woman from the circle of the Blue Rider. Munich 2010, p. 54
  8. ^ Elisabeth Erdmann-Macke: Memories of August Macke. Frankfurt 1987, p. 238
  9. The apartment was very progressively equipped for the time with a bathroom and water closet.
  10. Alexej Jawlensky: Memorabilia In: Clemens Weiler (Ed.): Alexej Jawlensky, Heads-Face-Meditations , Hanau 1970, p. 106