Savior's Face: Expectation, 1917

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Savior Face: Expectation, 1917 is the title of a painting by the Russian-German artist Alexej Jawlensky , which he painted in 1917. In 1964 it was acquired by the then museum director Clemens Weiler for the Wiesbaden Museum "from the artist's son". It has the inventory number M 818

Technology and image carriers

The Savior's Face : Expectation, 1917 is an oil painting on linen-structured painting paper in portrait format, 38 × 28 cm, mounted on cardboard and wood. It is monogrammed 'AJ' and not dated in the lower left of the picture. “On the reverse inscribed through a cutout in the wooden plate (in pencil): A. Jawlensky, Heilandsgesichte, 1917, inscribed on the wooden plate by Andreas Jawlensky (with a brush): Heilandsgesichte / A. Jawlensky 'Expectation' 1917 / oil, painting paper, cardboard, wooden board / 37.6 x 27.4 cm. ”The picture is listed in Weiler's“ Catalog of Paintings ”from 1959, in Weiler's“ Workshop Directory ”from 1970, in“ Catalog Raisonné "from 1992 of the Jawlensky Archive, 1997 in the inventory catalog of the Museum Wiesbaden,

A new step in Jawlensky's work

“The year 1917 brought another turning point or, better said, a new stage in Jawlensky's work. He turned back to the portrait, starting from the portrait of Scheyer . Despite all the similarity, he stylized the face more and more in order to make the characteristics of the person represented more clearly. In doing so he made the discovery that the heightened individual assumed more and more super-individual traits. The "faces of saints" were thus detached from the portraits. With the variations, Jawlensky had created the tools to find the cipher for the inner sound of a natural being. It was only logical that he could only represent the harmony he had striven for for years through constant practice in the human face, because there is the only field where inside and outside, man and world, nature and soul meet, where in the truest sense of the word »Religion« takes place. "

Forehead sign, wisdom sign

Weiler demonstrated the existence of the white dots on the forehead of the Savior's face in the painting Girl with Braid as early as 1909, “arising from a light reflex of a purely optical nature.” Later it was interpreted: “They have become signs of wisdom in the 'Savior's faces' condensed on the forehead, they now function as cosmic symbols in the 'abstract heads'. Suns, moons and rainbows and stand as symbols for the creative origin. The face becomes the place where the microcosm of man meets the macrocosm of creation. "

Highly stylized section of the head

“In contrast to the Mystical Heads such as the 'Exotic Head', the faces of the Savior that were created at the same time only show a section of the head limited to the face, nose and mouth are shown in a frontal view and strongly stylized. The colors are, similar to the variations, delicate and translucent and give these heads a spiritual expression. In the workshop directory, the term 'Holy Face' is used and a work entitled 'Expectation' is listed under the number 10/1917. "

Jawlensky painted several faces of the Savior shoulderless

“Jawlensky was saddened that his 'mystical minds' did not receive the appreciation he had expected. [...] In the meantime he experimented with the 'mystical heads'. They did not seem perfect enough to be too this-worldly. So he gradually developed a new topos of head images from them, the 'faces of the Savior'. Obviously he called them 'Christ Heads' at first and worked on them with long interruptions, as a letter from 1920 shows:' I have been working a lot this last time. I made 12 heads. 4 of them are good and something new there. It's strange that I haven't made a Christ head now. I felt the need to do something different. In the 'Heilandsgesichtern' Jawlensky gave up an important identification feature of the 'mystical heads', he painted them shoulderless! Otherwise, he kept all options open. He retained one decisive characteristic, however, the suggestion of the neck, whereby many of the heads called “abstract” in the Catalog Raisonné actually turn out to be “faces of the Savior”. [...] Jawlensky's works are always subject to change that can seldom be rationally understood. A constant further development of the “faces of the Savior” can be seen in various details. The elongated black corkscrew curls on the side of the cheeks, for example, refer back to similar motifs of the 'mystical heads'. The pointed strands of hair above the forehead, which can sometimes cross over each other several times, are new and symbolize Christ's crown of thorns. "

literature

  • Clemens Weiler: Alexej Jawlensky. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1959.
  • Clemens Weiler: Alexej Jawlensky, heads - faces - meditations. Hanau 1970.
  • Ingrid Koszinowski: Alexej von Jawlensky, paintings and graphic works from the collection of the Wiesbaden Museum. 1997.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ingrid Koszinowski: Alexej von Jawlensky, paintings and graphic works from the collection of the Wiesbaden Museum. 1997, p. 37.
  2. ↑ Clemens Weiler: Alexej Jawlensky. Cologne 1959, p. 243 No. 225.
  3. ↑ Clemens Weiler: Alexej Jawlensky, Heads-Face-Meditations. , Hanau 1970, No. 137 p. 143.
  4. ^ Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky, Angelica Jawlensky (eds.): Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalog Raisonné of the oil-paintings. , Vol. 2, Munich 1992, p. 226 No. 926.
  5. ^ Ingrid Koszinowski: Alexej von Jawlensky, paintings and graphic works from the collection of the Museum Wiesbaden 1997, p. 37 with color illus.
  6. ↑ Clemens Weiler: Alexej Jawlensky. Cologne 1959, p. 102.
  7. ↑ Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky, Angelica Jawlensky (eds.): Alexej von Jawlensky. Catalog raisonné of the oil paintings. Vol. 1. Munich 1991, p. 215, no. 257.
  8. ↑ Clemens Weiler: Alexej Jawlensky. Cologne 1959, p. 108.
  9. ↑ Angelika Affentranger-Kirchrath: In exh. Cat .: Jawlensky in Switzerland 1914–1921, encounters with Arp, Hodler, Janco, Klee, Lehmbruck, Richter, Teubler-Arp. Kunsthaus Zürich, 2000, p. 189.
  10. ↑ Alexej Jawlenski: To P. Willibrord Verkade. In: The work of art. Volume 2, issue 1/2, 1948, p. 49.
  11. ↑ Alexej Jawlenski: To P. Willibrord Verkade. In: The work of art. Volume 2, issue 1/2 1948, p. 49.
  12. ^ Jawlensky letter to Emmy Scheyer dated January 25, 1920, Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky, Angelica Jawlensky (eds.): Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalog Raisonné of the oil-paintings. Vol. 2, Munich 1992, p. 21 f.
  13. ↑ Bernd Fäthke : Jawlensky and his companions in a new light. Munich 2004, p. 180 f.

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