Nikita (Jawlensky)

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Nikita , 1910, by Alexej von Jawlensky

Nikita is the title of a painting by the German-Russian painter Alexej Jawlensky . In 1910 the title was still “Portrait of a Boy”. It is Marianne von Werefkin's nephew . In 1951 it was acquired by the then museum director Clemens Weiler from Lisa Kümmel for the Wiesbaden Museum . It bears the inventory number M 388.

Technology and image carriers

The portrait "Nikita" is an oil painting on cardboard in a slightly vertical format. It is signed in the top left of the picture 'A. Jawlensky ”and dated“ 1910 ”. The picture is listed in Weiler's “Catalog of Paintings” from 1959, in Weiler's “Workshop Directory” from 1970, in the Jawlensky Archive's “Catalog Raisonné” from 1991, and in 2014 in the 2014 exhibition catalog “Horizont Jawlensky”.

iconography

Regarding the painting “Nikita” , it was said in 2016: “We know about the existence of this boy just through the impressive portrait.” But 30 years ago the public of the Wiesbaden Museum was able to use the memories of the Werefkin's nephew Alexander von Werefkin (1904–1982 ), Nikita's cousin, were informed about Nikita's sad fate. According to this, Nikita (1899–1917) is the first-born son of Werfkin's youngest brother Vsevolod and his wife Vera, who was also painted by Jawlensky. Nikita had a younger sister Elisabeth and a younger brother Nikolaus. Nikita “served as a page at the tsar's court, befitting her rank . Later he was trained as an officer in the Preobrajenski Regiment . When the October Revolution broke out in 1917, the officers' school was closed and Nikita joined the White Army . When he was used as the tsar's courier with an important embassy in the Crimea , he was intercepted by the opponents and has since been considered lost. ”A posthumous portrait of “ Nikita ” , which his mother Vera Werefkin, a pupil of Ilya Efimovich Repin after a Photograph painted around 1917 shows her 18 year old son.

Painting technique and style

Since meeting Władysław Ślewiński at Easter 1908, Jawlensky has developed into an expressionist . In the present case, Jawlensky practices surface painting in contours, cloisonism . The painting style of his models, van Gogh , Gauguin , Bernard , the Nabis as well as Japonism , he had changed in the meantime. The three basic colors - yellow, red and blue - determine the painting and were complementary in the sense of van Gogh - balanced with purple, green and orange.

“How freely and confidently Jawlensky now deals with the painting surface, his models and their doctrines is particularly evident in his new painting style in 1910. For the first time in many years, he draws on what has been tried and tested early on. He primes the painting surface and lays different colors in layers on top of each other so that the lower layers shimmer through the layers above. Sometimes the uppermost colored areas have been removed again by the artist in various ways and can thus develop a diverse, fascinating life of their own. "

Nikita is dressed in a sailor suit , which was a typical fashionable item of clothing for boys in Germany as well as in the Tsarist Empire . The blue-and-white cross-striped undershirt, the telnyashka , is still characteristic of the sailors in the Russian Navy today . Nikita was presented in this clothing for the first time at the second exhibition of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München in September 1910 in Munich: “Jawlensky showed the strict image of the boy Nikita. The figure contrasts dark and heavy against the bright turquoise-green background. The moving slant of the arm gives the composition a clear rhythm. The large, wide-open eyes suggest Jawlensky's later theme of the human face. "

The back picture

The painting "Nikita" was previously painted on both sides. On its back it carried the “still life with a yellow ceiling” , a light horizontal format. It is listed in the Catalog Raisonné, in the Jawlensky inventory catalog from 1997 and in the exhibition catalog Horizont Jawlensky. The Wiesbaden Museum first drew attention to the fact that the image carrier was split in 1966 in the museum in its publications in 1986, 1991 and for the last time in 1997. The Catalog Raisonné 1991 commented on the matter: “The painting has been split (probably in 1966, according to the Museum); on reverse was probably [308] ”, the portrait “ Nikita ” .

Two “still lifes with colorful blankets” , the earlier one dated “[19] 09”, the later one “1910”, “on reverse signed, dated and titled by the artist's son ” were used to determine a date. The following correspondences were found: "The later work shows further possibilities for comparison due to the inclusion of table supervision and the stronger alignment of tablecloth ornament and object." Accordingly, the front and back of the painting seem to have been created in the same year.

literature

  • Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich 1959
  • Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Heads and Face Meditations, Hanau 1970
  • Bernd Fäthke : Jawlensky and his companions in a new light , Munich 2004
  • 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. ↑ Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Cologne 1959, p. 222, note 65
  2. ↑ 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
  3. ↑ Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Heads-Face-Meditations, Hanau 1970, p. 142
  4. ↑ Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky and Angelica Jawlensky (eds.), Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalog Raisonné of the oil-paintings, Vol. 1, Munich 1991, No. 308, p. 257 f, ill. P. 245
  5. ↑ Roman Zieglgänsberger (ed.), Exhib. Cat .: Horizont Jawlensky 1900-1914, Alexej von Jawlensky in the mirror of his encounters, Museum Wiesbaden 2014, cat.no. 60, p. 299, illus. P. 241
  6. ^ Roman Zieglgänsberger, Alexej Jawlensky, Cologne 2016, p. 56
  7. ↑ Bernd Fäthke, Nikita von Werefkin, The Special Image, Museum Wiesbaden, MS, August 1986, pp. 1-4, ders .: Detection of evidence for the Blue Rider in Lithuania, 6th communication from the Association of Berlin Artists. V., Berlin 1995, n.p. (p. 16), Figs. 13 and 14
  8. ^ Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky and Angelica Jawlensky (eds.), Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalog Raisonné of the oil-paintings, Vol. 1, Munich 1991, No. 325, p. 277
  9. ↑ Bernd Fäthke, Securing evidence for the Blue Rider in Lithuania, 6th communication from the Association of Berlin Artists. V., Berlin 1995, o. S. (p. 19)
  10. ↑ Bernd Fäthke, Securing evidence for the Blue Rider in Lithuania, 6th communication from the Association of Berlin Artists. V., Berlin 1995, n.p. (p. 18), Fig. 17
  11. ↑ Bernd Fäthke, Jawlensky and his companions in a new light, Munich 2004, p. 110 ff
  12. ^ Exhibition catalog: Jawlensky's Japanese woodcut collection. A fairytale discovery, edition by the Administration of State Palaces and Gardens, Bad Homburg vdH, No. 2, 1992
  13. ↑ Vincent van Gogh, Complete Letters, To the Family, To Friends and Acquaintances, In d. Translated by Eva Schumann, Ed. Fritz Erpel, Bornheim-Merten 1985, Vol. 4, p. 89
  14. ↑ Bernd Fäthke, Nikita von Werefkin, The Special Picture, Museum Wiesbaden, MS, August 1986, p. 4. The investigation of Jawlensky's painting technique on this picture took place in collaboration with the restorer Erich Gantzert-Castrillo of the Museum Wiesbaden.
  15. ↑ Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Cologne 1959, p. 74
  16. ^ Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky and Angelica Jawlensky (eds.), Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalog Raisonné of the oil-paintings, Vol. 1, Munich 1991, p. 296, no. 371 with bw-ill.
  17. ↑ Ingrid Koszinowski, Alexej von Jawlensky, paintings and graphic works from the collection of the Museum Wiesbaden 1997, cat. No. 9, p. 22
  18. ↑ Roman Zieglgänsberger (ed.), Exhib. Cat .: Horizont Jawlensky 1900-1914, Alexej von Jawlensky in the mirror of his encounters, Museum Wiesbaden 2014, cat.no.62, p. 299
  19. ↑ Bernd Fäthke, Nikita von Werefkin, The special picture, Museum Wiesbaden, MS, August 1986, p. 4
  20. ↑ Andrea Bohn, Astrid Peter-meier, list of the exhibited works, in: Exh. Cat .: Alexej von Jawlensky on the 50th year of death, paintings and graphic works, Museum Wiesbaden 1991, no. 53, p. 317
  21. ↑ Ingrid Koszinowski, Alexej von Jawlensky, paintings and graphic works from the collection of the Museum Wiesbaden 1997, cat. No. 9, p. 22
  22. ^ Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky and Angelica Jawlensky (eds.), Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalog Raisonné of the oil-paintings, Vol. 1, Munich 1991, p. 296
  23. ↑ Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky and Angelica Jawlensky (eds.), Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalog Raisonné of the oil-paintings, Vol. 1, Munich 1991, p. 254, No. 297 and p. 296, No. 370
  24. ↑ Ingrid Koszinowski, Alexej von Jawlensky, paintings and graphic works from the collection of the Museum Wiesbaden 1997, cat. No. 9, p. 22