The Way of the Cross II
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| The Way of the Cross II |
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| Marianne von Werefkin , 1926/27 |
| Tempera painting on cardboard |
| 103.5 cm × 77.5 cm |
| Fondazione Marianne Werefkin , Ascona |
“The Way of the Cross II” is the title of a painting that the Russian artist Marianne von Werefkin painted in 1926/27. The work belongs to the holdings of the Fondazione Marianne Werefkin (FMW) in Ascona and has the inventory number 0-0-19.
Technology and dimensions
It is a tempera painting on cardboard , 103.5 × 77.5 cm
iconography
A Ticino mountain landscape is shown, which would normally have to be presented in a wide format . Thus, this landscape cannot be viewed just for its own sake. Because it obviously served the painter as a pretext to symbolically point to invisible worlds of the soul and the spiritual. In this context, it should be remembered that Werefkin's oft-quoted saying: “J'aime les choses qui ne sont pas” - I love the things that are not, became their main idea. On the right side there are three mountains, staggered into the depth of the picture. The three small ones at the bottom of the picture were mainly designed with fine reddish brushstrokes. A single leafy tree grows on each of their peaks. There are two more trees of the same kind on the slopes. Behind it, bare, higher mountains form a second layer of the picture. Furthermore, in the depth of the picture, masses of rock pile up to the upper right edge of the picture. The entire right part of the picture is not taken from nature. There is something strangely unreal about it, which can hardly be interpreted. On the left side of the picture you can also see a mountain. It is also staggered from several high rocks that suggest volume. A chapel stands on its highest point. The plaster is crumbling off over a large area. Major parts of the painting are still preserved, Christ with a nimbus on the cross and to the right of it Mary in a red robe and blue cloak; like her son, she is also marked as holy with a nimbus. Next to her is presumably Johannes . Since the left part of the crucifixion group is covered by a rock, it can be assumed that several people are depicted on the overall picture of the wall painting.
Novices
“Werefkin also paid great attention to religious customs. Familiar with its Russian Orthodox varieties from an early age, she found pleasure in traditional […] prayer walks in Ascona (procession 'Stations of the Cross […] II). ”The latter leads up to the chapel as a narrow, serpentine path . Several white stations of the cross, covered wayside shrines, can be seen. Benedictine nuns walk uphill in a long line with the aim of reaching the chapel in a kind of procession on the mountain top.
These are novices with her white veil in their "one-year probationary year." With a positive course they are irrevocable vows store, namely "the stabilitas (remaining in the monastery), Conversio morum (poverty and chastity) and Oboedientia (unconditional obedience) . ”One of the aspiring nuns carries a lecture cross , another a processional flag depicting a crescent Madonna , all the others hold Bibles in their hands.
Repoussoir
The dark mountains to the left and right have the function of repoussoirs , which create a depth effect in their middle and reveal a view of a wider mountain landscape. When brightly lit, Werefkin lets three mountains appear playfully like personifications of the three primary colors yellow, red and blue.
Dating
The FMW has a pencil drawing for the picture in the sketchbook no .: g / 18 with the indication 1926. However, this dating cannot mean that the painting must have been created in the same year. For this reason, an earlier date was chosen for the painting 1926/27.
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.
- 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
- ↑ Marianne Werefkin: In: Clemens Weiler (Ed.): Marianne Werefkin, letters to an unknown 1901–1905. Cologne 1960, p. 1
- ↑ Brigitte Roßbeck: Marianne von Werefkin, The Russian woman from the circle of the Blue Rider. Munich 2010, p. 215
- ^ Meyers: Large conversation lexicon. A reference book of general knowledge. Leipzig and Vienna 1908, vol. 14, p. 825
- ^ Meyers: Large conversation lexicon. A reference book of general knowledge. Leipzig and Vienna 1905, vol. 2, p. 628
- ↑ Bernd Fäthke: Marianne Werefkin. Munich 2001, p. 229