Alexej von Jawlensky
Grosses Stilleben: Blumen in violetter Vase
Around 1935
Oil on heavy, textured paper 25.3 x 17 cm Framed. Inscribed "Ich bestätige, daß dieses Bild von meinem Mann, Alexej von Jawlensky gemalt ist, H. v. Jawlensky" verso by Helene Jawlensky. - A faint fold in lower left corner.
The mid 1930s were the period of the abstract heads. On account of his illness, among other reasons, Alexei von Jawlensky occupied himself almost continuously with small-format faces reduced to their most essential elements, his so-called “Meditations”. With a usually muted palette, he explored a spectrum of different facial expressions and emotional states by means of reductive indications of humanity's physical form.
Jawlensky interrupted this series with the counterpoint of a series of flower paintings - practically portraits - which also include the “Grosses Stilleben: Blumen in violetter Vase” offered here. Generally framed within a narrow and vertical space, colourful flowers are placed at the centre: here they consist of violets in a violet-coloured vase, which form a charming complementary contrast to the red-orange space surrounding them. The blue vase, cut off by the edge of the picture, features characteristically concave elements in its profile and reflects an interesting development among the floral pieces, which also seem to have changed with the seasons. While the vase initially stood intact in the middle of “Stilleben: Hellblaue Vase I”, of 1934, it subsequently shifted towards the left edge of the picture as a constant tectonic variable (see M. Jawlensky/Pieroni-Jawlensky/A. Jawlensky 1574, 1686, 1738, 1740, 1743, 1745 i.a.).
This experimentation with the framing of the space and arrangement of the flowers seems to have exerted a particular fascination on the painter, similar to that of creating variations on a face. He used seemingly simple means and compositional schemes to achieve a grand effect and create small-format works of enormous power.
Catalogue Raisonné
M. Jawlensky/Pieroni-Jawlensky/A. Jawlensky 1746
Provenance
Dr. Ernst Hauswedell, Hamburg, 26.11.1960, lot 371; Galerie Schmela, Düsseldorf 1963, 1. Kunstauktion, lot 43; Galerie Beyeler, Basel (1967); Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, 18 Nov. 1967, lot 155; Christie's London, 19 Jun. 2013, Impressionist/Modern Sale, Lot 372; Private possession, England
Exhibitions
Basel 1957 (Galerie Beyeler), Maîtres de l'art moderne, cat. no. 61 ("Veilchen"); Los Angeles 1958 (Stephen Silagy Galleries), no. 2 ("Flowers")