Lot 507 
Raumbeispiel
507
Alexej von Jawlensky
Variation: Kühler Frühling, 1916.
Oil on structured paper, firmly laid on cardboard
Estimate:
€ 100,000 / $ 110,000 Sold:
€ 112,500 / $ 123,750 (incl. surcharge)
Variation: Kühler Frühling. 1916.
Oil on structured paper, firmly laid on cardboard.
Jawlensky/Pieroni-Jawlensky 799. Lower left monogrammed, inscribed and dated "St. Prex 1915“ in bottom center. Verso signed, btitled and inscribed "St. Prex 1916 N. 79“. 36.1 x 27 cm (14.2 x 10.6 in).
Backing board: 50.2 x 39.4 cm (19.8 x 15.5 in).
[AM].
• From Jawlensky's significant first series "Variation on a Landscape Theme", which is highly sought-after on the international market.
• Powerful work in cool tones and a light expressiveness.
• Particularly spirited composition from Jawlensky's time in Swiss exile.
PROVENANCE: Artist's estate
Galerie Beyeler, Basel (acquired from the above, verso with the label)
Collection Stanley Barbee, Los Angeles (acquired on December 31, 1963, verso with hand-written sales note).
Estate of Stanley Barbee, Los Angeles and Honolulu.
Galerie Beyerle, Basel (1960).
Galerie Wilhelm Grosshennig, Düsseldorf.
Dr. Max M. Stern (1895-1982), New York.
Private collection New York (inherited).
EXHIBITION: Alexej Jawlensky, Galerie Emil Richter, Dresden 1922
Alexej von Jawlensky 1864-1941, Galerie Beyeler, Basel, January 15 - February 28, 1957, cat. no. 45.
Alexej von Jawlensky, Stephen Silagy Galleries, Los Angeles, 1958, cat. no. 15.
Deutsche und französische Kunstwerke des 20. Jahrhunderts, Galerie Wilhelm Grosshenning, Düsseldorf, November 5, 1973 - February 28, 1974, color illu. p. 19.
Deutsche und französische Kunstwerke des 20. Jahrhunderts, Galerie Wilhelm Grosshenning, Düsseldorf 1974/75, color illu. p. 12.
Deutsche und französische Kunstwerke des 20. Jahrhunderts, Galerie Wilhelm Grosshenning, Düsseldorf 1975/76, color illu. p. 36.
LITERATURE: Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Cologne 1959, p. 271, no. 621 (no illu.).
Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, 1960, lot 94 (with illu.).
Clemens Weiler, quoted from: Jawlensky, Köpfe, Gesichte, Meditationen, Hanau 1970, p. 155, no. 1220 (here titled "Frühling“).
"I started painting my so-called variations on a landscape theme that I saw from my window [..]. Through hard work and utmost tension I gradually attained the right colors and forms to express what my spiritual me demanded. I painted these colorful variations every day, always inpired by the respective vibe of nature in conjunction with my spirit.“
Alexej von Jawlensky, Lebenserinnerungen, in: Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky. Köpfe, Gesichte, Meditationen, Hanau 1970, p. 116.
Oil on structured paper, firmly laid on cardboard.
Jawlensky/Pieroni-Jawlensky 799. Lower left monogrammed, inscribed and dated "St. Prex 1915“ in bottom center. Verso signed, btitled and inscribed "St. Prex 1916 N. 79“. 36.1 x 27 cm (14.2 x 10.6 in).
Backing board: 50.2 x 39.4 cm (19.8 x 15.5 in).
[AM].
• From Jawlensky's significant first series "Variation on a Landscape Theme", which is highly sought-after on the international market.
• Powerful work in cool tones and a light expressiveness.
• Particularly spirited composition from Jawlensky's time in Swiss exile.
PROVENANCE: Artist's estate
Galerie Beyeler, Basel (acquired from the above, verso with the label)
Collection Stanley Barbee, Los Angeles (acquired on December 31, 1963, verso with hand-written sales note).
Estate of Stanley Barbee, Los Angeles and Honolulu.
Galerie Beyerle, Basel (1960).
Galerie Wilhelm Grosshennig, Düsseldorf.
Dr. Max M. Stern (1895-1982), New York.
Private collection New York (inherited).
EXHIBITION: Alexej Jawlensky, Galerie Emil Richter, Dresden 1922
Alexej von Jawlensky 1864-1941, Galerie Beyeler, Basel, January 15 - February 28, 1957, cat. no. 45.
Alexej von Jawlensky, Stephen Silagy Galleries, Los Angeles, 1958, cat. no. 15.
Deutsche und französische Kunstwerke des 20. Jahrhunderts, Galerie Wilhelm Grosshenning, Düsseldorf, November 5, 1973 - February 28, 1974, color illu. p. 19.
Deutsche und französische Kunstwerke des 20. Jahrhunderts, Galerie Wilhelm Grosshenning, Düsseldorf 1974/75, color illu. p. 12.
Deutsche und französische Kunstwerke des 20. Jahrhunderts, Galerie Wilhelm Grosshenning, Düsseldorf 1975/76, color illu. p. 36.
LITERATURE: Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Cologne 1959, p. 271, no. 621 (no illu.).
Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, 1960, lot 94 (with illu.).
Clemens Weiler, quoted from: Jawlensky, Köpfe, Gesichte, Meditationen, Hanau 1970, p. 155, no. 1220 (here titled "Frühling“).
"I started painting my so-called variations on a landscape theme that I saw from my window [..]. Through hard work and utmost tension I gradually attained the right colors and forms to express what my spiritual me demanded. I painted these colorful variations every day, always inpired by the respective vibe of nature in conjunction with my spirit.“
Alexej von Jawlensky, Lebenserinnerungen, in: Clemens Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky. Köpfe, Gesichte, Meditationen, Hanau 1970, p. 116.
Like hardly any other artist of his time, Alexej von Jawlensky strove for perfection in varying repetitions of the same motif under different temporal and emotional perspectives. The large number of meditations in his oeuvre is obvious evidence thereof. The “Variations on a Landscape Theme”, made as of 1914, which include the present work, also bear this signature. As the inscription on the work suggests, it was made, just as the entire series, in the small village of Saint Prex on Lake Geneva. When all Russian natives had to leave Germany with the outbreak of the First World War, Jawlensky and his family found a small house in the town through a friend. Based on the view from the window of the cramped new apartment, he painted the variations of what he saw on a special, linen-textured paper. In his own way of dealing with a painterly problem, he continued to develop this motif over the years with a great wealth of variants. In the course of time he detached himself from what he saw and abandoned real form and color, so that the variations became increasingly “abstract”. In retrospect, Jawlensky wrote about his deprived situation in exile: “I had some paint but no easel. I went to Lausanne, twenty minutes by train, and bought a small easel from a photographer for four francs, an easel on which the photographer put his photos. This easel was not at all suitable for painting, but I painted my best works on this small easel for more than twenty years.” (quoted from: C. Weiler, 1970, p. 116).
Our depiction may also have been created on this easel, which, in comparison to many other works from the series, gets its special expressiveness through the predominantly cool color palette. This effective use of color, as well as the positioning and arrangement of the depicted forms, impressively shows Jawlensky's efforts to render his memories, associations and feelings in a powerful expression. [AM]
Our depiction may also have been created on this easel, which, in comparison to many other works from the series, gets its special expressiveness through the predominantly cool color palette. This effective use of color, as well as the positioning and arrangement of the depicted forms, impressively shows Jawlensky's efforts to render his memories, associations and feelings in a powerful expression. [AM]
507
Alexej von Jawlensky
Variation: Kühler Frühling, 1916.
Oil on structured paper, firmly laid on cardboard
Estimate:
€ 100,000 / $ 110,000 Sold:
€ 112,500 / $ 123,750 (incl. surcharge)