Abstrakter Kopf

Abstrakter Kopf marks a mature point of Alexej von Jawlensky’s celebrated series of semi-abstract heads, which he had first started over a decade prior in Ascona in 1918. The entire series possessed a deeply introspective and reverent character, driven by Jawlensky’s belief in the face as a medium for the experience of transcendence. Through these heads, he sought to elicit a spiritual experience in both the artist and the viewer through prolonged contemplation. From 1930 onwards, Jawlensky rendered these faces with increasing abstraction and ever richer colour palettes, which reach an apogee in works like Abstrakter Kopf. Here, fields of serene pastel colour comprise the face, with only a handful of astutely placed geometric lines and arcs serving as delineations. It was this extreme stylisation of the face that allowed him to bring together his intense sense of spirituality with his powerful instinct for colour.

Jawlensky’s oeuvre had been marked by an increasing spiritual tenor since the First World War, however, this took on a particularly personal significance in 1928, when the artist was diagnosed with arthritis. Unfortunately for Jawlensky, these symptoms intensified rapidly and by 1934, his hands had become so stiff that on most days he could only work in a highly limited manner. Jawlensky declared on several occasions that he would meditate prior to painting, in order to enter a mental state that would transcend the physical pain, and also allow him to enter a religious frame of mind in order to approach the human face from a new, spiritual dimension. Shortly after a period of light-toned symphonies in works such as Abstrakter Kopf, however, Jawlensky’s faces would be marked by progressively darker palettes as his condition worsened, marking both a physical and emotional deterioration. Abstrakter Kopf is thus a testimony to a moment in which Jawlensky’s spiritual practice, through being inextricably intertwined with his artistic practice, lent his art a sense of hope and optimism, resulting in masterpieces such as Abstrakter Kopf.