Helene in a Spanish costume

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Alexej Jawlewnsky: Helene in a Spanish costume , oil on canvas, 1904, Museum Wiesbaden

Helene in a Spanish costume is the title of the largest painting that the German-Russian artist Alexej Jawlensky ever painted. It was donated to the Wiesbaden Museum in 2014 by the art collector Frank Brabant .

Technology and dimensions

The portrait is of Helene Nesnakomoff , the “cook” of Marianne von Werefkin , Jawlensky's future wife. The painting is considered to be Jawlensky's "most important early work both art-historically and biographically." It is recorded in the first volume of his catalog raisonné . The oil painting on "relined canvas" measures 190 × 96.5 cm. The portrait is signed on the front lower right as follows: “A. Jawlensky ”, but not dated. There is no lettering on the back.

iconography

The picture was taken in Munich- Schwabing at “Giselastraße 23”, where Werefkin had rented a luxurious floor with “two studio apartments” on the third floor. At the time the painting was made, Andreas , Helenes and Jawlensky's son were roommates. Jawlensky depicted Helene in a realistic way of painting. Her arms on her hips, “Helene confronts us self-confidently at eye level and by no means in a servant position.” She wears an unlined, long-sleeved blouse . According to the fashion “around 1897–1908”, the front part of the so-called waist is loosely puffed over the waistband. Her wide skirt falls to the floor in many long folds. In a very calculated way, Jawlensky used only two basic colors in this painting , namely yellow and red. The red dominates in multiple shades in the skirt, in the fringed triangular stole or in the lips; it culminates in a flower in the hair. The red finds its complementary balance in the green of the waist and in several decorative points on the shawl. For the second basic color, Jawlensky cleverly used the yellowish iridescent skin color on Helene's face, on her neck and on her neckline, also modified in the upper part of the background of the picture. A complementary purple is missing. The third basic color, blue, is also missing along with the complementary orange. Interestingly enough, he brings the non-color pair white and black into play in a revolutionary way for his time.

The way of painting

Strikingly, Jawlensky made the painting with two different painting styles . Essentially, he used a naturalistic style of painting that deviates significantly from the loop-like brushwork in Helene's skirt. It can be derived from Anton Ažbe's teaching program . Jawlensky got to know this when he and his friends Dmitri Nikolajewitsch Kardowski and Igor Emmanuilowitsch Grabar Ažbe attended a renowned school.

Dating

There are several versions of the dating of the painting. In the catalog raisonné, the date of the painting is “c. 1901 “Fifteen years later, this dating was unusually confirmed with gynecological arguments“ according to her pregnancy ”“ around 1901 ”. Following on from this, this view was taken up again ten years later in 2016, but at the same time also questioned, in that the Helene depicted in the painting was only described as “possibly already pregnant”. Neither the dates “1901”, “around 1901” nor “1901/02” have ever been presented convincingly in the past. In his memoirs, Jawlensky describes the completion of the painting in connection with an unannounced visit by Lovis Corinth to Jawlensky and Werefkin in Munich, but without naming a date: “I had just finished painting a life-size figure of Helene, standing, with a green waist and dark red Rock. ”So the painting was still on Jawlensky's easel with wet paint. “Someone rang the bell. […] I opened the door and a tall man came in in an old paletot who said in a strong voice: 'My name is Lovis Corinth.' He told me that the painter Lichtenberger [...] had sent him to me. "Corinth looked at Jawlensky's pictures and said:" That I should send one to the Berlin Secession, where it was also exhibited. "Werefkin's diary tells you the exact date the “Visite de Corinth” in Giselastrasse. She noted for “22.II. [1904]” to the exact day that Jawlensky took the picture on “22nd. February 1904 “had finished painting.

literature

  • Gabrielle Dufour-Kowalska: Marianne Werefkin, Lettres à un Inconnu. Paris 1999, p. 132, note 21
  • Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky and Angelica Jawlensky (eds.): Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalog Raisonné of the oil-paintings. Vol. 1, Munich 1991, No. 13, p. 44
  • Brigitte Roßbeck: Marianne von Werefkin, The Russian from the circle of the Blue Rider. Munich 2010, p. 53, note 91

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jawlensky was granted German citizenship in 1934. See: Saskia Bekke-Proost: Biography, Alexej von Jawlensky (1864–1941). In: Alexej von Jawlensky, Epressionisme en devotie. Gemeente Museum Den Haag 2018, p. 193
  2. ↑ Nikolas Jacobs: From Pussicat to Pechstein. In: Lilienjournal, Wiesbaden city views. Issue 16, spring 2018, p. 53
  3. ↑ Birgitta Lamparth: Helene causes a sensation, Jawlensky, collector Frank Brabant donates the artist's largest painting to the museum. Wiesbadener Kurier, February 5, 2014, p. 20
  4. ↑ Bernd Fäthke: Marianne Werefkin. Munich 2001, p. 57, doc. 7
  5. ↑ Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky and Angelica Jawlensky (eds.): Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalog Raisonné of the oil-paintings. Vol. 1, Munich 1991, No. 21, p. 48, illus. P. 55
  6. ↑ Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky and Angelica Jawlensky (eds.): Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalog Raisonné of the oil-paintings. Vol. 1, Munich 1991, No. 21, p. 48
  7. ^ Elisabeth Erdmann-Macke: Memories of August Macke. Frankfurt 1987, p. 238
  8. ↑ Alexander Hildebrand :, On the Jawlensky year 2004 in Wiesbaden. In: Nassauische Annalen 116. 2005, p. 589
  9. ↑ Alexej Jawlensky: Memoirs In: Clemens Weiler (ed.), Alexej Jawlensky, Heads-Face-Meditations , Hanau 1970, p. 106
  10. ↑ Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky and Angelica Jawlensky (eds.): Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalog Raisonné of the oil-paintings. Vol. 1, Munich 1991, No. 21, p. 48
  11. ↑ Tayfun Belgin: Series: Jawlenskys models, About the person: Helene Nesnakomaoff. In: Research contributions on the life and work of Alexej von Jawlensky. Vol. 2, Locarno 2005 (published 2006), p. 82
  12. ↑ Tayfun Belgin: Alexej von Jawlensky, A Biography: State Russian Museum 2000, p. 50
  13. ↑ Birgitta Lamparth: Helene causes a sensation, Jawlensky, collector Frank Brabant donates the artist's largest painting to the museum. Wiesbadener Kurier, February 5, 2014, p. 20
  14. ↑ Alexej Jawlensky: Memorabilia In: Clemens Weiler (Ed.), Alexej Jawlensky, Heads-Face-Meditations , Hanau 1970, p. 109
  15. ↑ Gabrielle Dufour-Kowalska: Marianne Werefkin, Lettres à un Inconnu. Paris 1999, p. 132, note 21
  16. ^ Marianne Werefkin: Lettres à un Inconnu, 1902–1906. Fondazione Marianne Werefkin, Museo comunale d'arte moderna, Ascona, vol. Il, p. 273
  17. ^ Marianne Werefkin: Lettres à un Inconnu, 1902–1906. Fondazione Marianne Werefkin, Museo comunale d'arte moderna, Ascona, vol. Il, p. 273 f
  18. ↑ Brigitte Roßbeck: Marianne von Werefkin, The Russian woman from the circle of the Blue Rider. Munich 2010, p. 92
  19. ↑ Bernd Fäthke: Jawlensky and his companions in a new light. Munich 2004, p. 62 and note 572