Jawlensky, Alexej von

painter

born: 13.03.jul. / 25.03.greg. 1864 or 1865 in Torschok (Tver Governorate)

died: 15.03.1941 in Wiesbaden

In the 20th century, the city of Wiesbaden interlocked once with an internationally recognized protagonist of art history: Alexej von Jawlensky. With a few exceptions, he painted his abstract heads here, which culminated in the seriality of the so-called Meditations. The son of a colonel, he completed his military training in Moscow in 1877. Having become a practicing art connoisseur through visits to galleries, he was transferred to St. Petersburg in 1889 and studied painting under Ilya Repin, in whose studio he met Marianne von Werefkin (1860-1938), who was regarded as the "Russian Rembrandt". Werefkin dedicated herself to supporting Jawlensky in their partnership, which was officially established in 1892, partly to compensate for her own creative crisis. In 1896, the couple chose Munich as their home. In 1902, Andrej, Jawlensky's son with Werefkin's maid, was born, officially announced as his nephew.

A trip to Normandy and Paris in 1903 was followed by a longer stay in France in 1906. The artist couple were deeply impressed by the works of Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh; their encounter with the works of Henri Matisse proved to be an artistic highlight. From 1908 onwards, they met for the legendary painting competitions with Wassily Kandinsky and Gabriele Münter in Murnau, where the intellectual Werefkin became one of the midwives of classical modernism, while Jawlensky was the most advanced painter. Between 1911 and 1913, Jawlensky's expressive heads dominate, completely filling the pictorial space and in which he felt most strongly. Jawlensky's striking portrait of 1912 in the Museum Wiesbaden is regarded as a zenith in the painter's oeuvre at the time.

The First World War drove the patchwork family to Switzerland, and Werefkin lost her entire pension in the wake of the Russian Revolution. Jawlensky created his "Variations on a Landscape Theme" in modest accommodation on Lake Geneva. In 1916, Jawlensky met the young artist Emilie Esther Scheyer (1889-1945), whom he called "Galka" (Russian for "jackdaw"). His cycle "Mystical Heads" also shows her striking physiognomy. She became his agent by contract. In order to draw attention back to the painter, she succeeded in presenting his works in a sales exhibition that toured German cities and was also taken on by the Nassauischer Kunstverein e.V.. Jawlensky remained in Wiesbaden with deceptive prospects, broke off the forever bond with Marianne von Werefkin in 1921 and married Helene Nesnakomoff in 1922, albeit - as he ultimately formulated - solely for the sake of his son Andrej.

Before his arrival, Galka Scheyer had recommended Wiesbaden to him. The main aim was to make contact with Heinrich Kirchhoff, whose collection had become increasingly attractive, and with the NKV, which was one of the leading art associations in Germany at the time. In his autobiographical notes, Jawlensky recalls personalities from Wiesbaden. Josef Vinecký, creator of the majolica in the Kaiser-Friedrich-Bad, made specific picture frames for Jawlensky. The architect and painter Edmund Fabry and the artist couple Annie and Arnold Hensler are also mentioned. Jawlensky had a valued discussion partner in the art historian Mela Escherich. In the meantime, his confidante Galka Scheyer had succeeded in organizing a transatlantic project with Kandinsky, Klee, Feininger and J. called "Die Blaue Vier" ("The Blue Four") for the purpose of creating an art mission. In 1927, Jawlenksy met the painter and designer Elisabeth (Lisa) Kümmel, who was closer to him than anyone else until the end of his life. In the same year, he began to experience the first symptoms of polyarthritis deformans, which led to a continuous reduction in his quality of life. He also received help from Hanna Bekker vom Rath, who founded the "Association of Friends of Alexej von Jawlensky's Art" in 1929.

In 1933, his works were banned from being exhibited, and in 1934 Jawlenksy was granted German citizenship. The following year, he traveled to Switzerland with Lisa Kümmel to see works by Paul Klee. Both seriously ill artists, one ostracized, the other spied on, said goodbye to each other in Bern. At this point, Jawlenksy was already working on his so-called Meditations. These countless configurations seem extremely modern due to their creation process, a kind of ritual visualization. Jawlenksy had become a member of the Reich Chamber of Culture in 1936, and a year later his paintings were defamed in the Nazi propaganda show "Degenerate Art" in Munich.

The death of Marianne von Werefkin in 1938 plunged Jawlensky into the deepest depression, which led to his complete paralysis, so that his work ceased during his lifetime. Artist friend Adolf Erbslöh spoke at his funeral at the Russian Cemetery in 1941.