Japanese Flower
1913
Alexei Jawlensky (Russian, 1864-1941)
Not on View

After serving in the Russian Imperial Guard, Alexei Jawlensky moved to Munich in 1896 to pursue a career in painting. Studying alongside Vassily Kandinsky, with whom he would become close friends, and acquainting himself with French avant-garde painting, by the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, Russian-born Jawlensky was nevertheless considered a key fixture in the development of German modern art. His striking palette owed much to an interest in Henri Matisse and Vincent van Gogh, and his simplified forms took their cues from Russian folk painting. Despite his radical stylistic approach, compositional structure remained paramount, as evidenced in this beautifully balanced still life. The three cylindrical forms of the Japanese figurine, the vase and the pitcher establish a regularized rhythm across the canvas, while the circular groupings of fruit and flowers reflect the stable, however spiritual, triangular layouts of the Russo-Byzantine icons of his youth.

Details

  • Artist Name: Alexei Jawlensky (Russian, 1864-1941)
  • Title: Japanese Flower
  • Date: 1913
  • Medium: Oil on cardboard mounted on masonite
  • Dimensions: 21-1/8 x 19-1/2 in. (53.7 x 49.5 cm)
  • Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, Museum Purchase
  • Accession Number: P.1963.36.01
  • Copyright: © Norton Simon Museum

Object Information

[Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett, Stuttgart, 27-28 November 1956, no. 380];
[Galerie Jacques Fricker, Paris, 1956];
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Ross, New York, 1956, [sale Parke-Bernet, New York, 27 April 1960, lot 21];
[sale Parke-Bernet, New York, 5 December 1962, lot 86];
Mr. and Mrs. Frederick R. Weisman, Beverly Hills, California, sold 1963 to;
Pasadena Art Museum, 1963-1975;
Norton Simon Museum.

Erste Ausstellung

  • Munich, Neue Munchener Secession, 1914-05-30 to 1914-10-01

Jawlensky Centennial

Learning to Look: Line

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2003-11-07 to 2004-02-23

The Blue Four and Their Contemporaries

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1991-06-20 to 1992-05-24

Alexej von Jawlensky

  • Krems, Austria, Kunsthalle Krems, 2003-04-27 to 2003-09-21

Visions and Icons: the Art of Alexei Jawlensky

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1990-01-18 to 1991-04-14

Selections from the Galka E. Scheyer Collection

  • Pasadena Art Museum, 1970-09-08 to 1970-12-17

Alexei Jawlensky (1864-1941)

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2007-05-04 to 2007-11-05

The Galka Scheyer Collection: Klee, Nolde, Jawlensky, Moholy-Nagy, Schmidt-Rottluff, Schwitters, Archipenko, Kandinsky, Lissitzky, Feininger, Kirchner, Dix_1

  • La Jolla, Art Center in La Jolla, 1960-07-05 to 1960-08-14

Permanent and Loan Collection, 1973

  • Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, 1973-01-30 to 1973-12-31

My Four Kings: Galka Scheyer and the Blue Four

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2002-12-13 to 2003-04-14
  • Farrell, John, Pasadena Star News, p. 24
  • Pasadena Museum of Art, Alexei Jawlensky: A Centennial Exhibition, 1964, p. 34
  • Fäthke, Bernd, Alexej Jawlensky: Zeichnungen- Graphik- Dokumente, 1984, fig. 53 p. 43
  • Weiler, Clemens, Alexej Jawlensky, 1989, no. 742
  • Jawlensky, 1990, p. 11
  • Jawlensky, Maria; Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky, and Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1890-1914, 1991, no. 618
  • Barnett, Vivian Endicott, The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum, 2002, no. 128 pp. 106-107
  • Museums Los Angeles, 2004, p. 98

Additional Artwork by Artist

Abstract Head: Small Head on Wood Alexei Jawlensky 1921
Head Alexei Jawlensky 1912
Head Inclined to the Right, with Closed Eyes Alexei Jawlensky c. 1922

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