Alexej von Jawlensky

Alexej von Jawlensky was a Russian painter associated with the Expressionist movement and a key member of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München, Der Blaue Reiter and Die Blaue Vier. Born in 1864 in Torzhok, Russia, Jawlensky left his military career and in 1889 began studying at the St Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts. He moved to Munich in 1896, where he became part of an avant-garde circle that included influential artists like Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc and Paul Klee.

Jawlensky’s use of rich, non-naturalistic pigments was deeply influenced by the art of Henri Matisse and his contemporaries. He first became acquainted with the works of the Fauves at the 1905 Salon d’Automne in Paris where six of his paintings were on view. Their dynamic and bold use of colour inspired Jawlensky to explore art beyond traditional representation, focusing on colour as a tool for personal expression.

Between 1908 and 1910, Jawlensky and fellow artists Marianne von Werefkin, Kandinsky and Gabriele Münter spent their summers in Murnau, a town in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps. They worked in close proximity and encouraged each other to try out new ideas. Following the Fauve example, they contributed a distinctive Russo-German approach to colour in modern painting.

Jawlensky’s interest in domestic still-life and portraiture demonstrates his preference for engaging his subject close-up, creating an intimate sense of presence. The artist found that the act of creating a work of art took on a mystical power of its own. In a letter he wrote: ‘I had come to understand that great art can only be painted with religious feeling. And that, I could only bring to the human face.’ Series from the late period of his career, such as ‘Abstract Heads’ and ‘Meditations’, exemplify his examinations of the spiritual through portraiture.

In the late 1920s, Jawlensky was afflicted with arthritis, which impeded his mobility and brought his painting career to an eventual end in 1937. Jawlensky died in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1941. Today, Alexej von Jawlensky’s paintings can be found in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, the Albertina in Vienna, and many more.