There was a profound change in Jawlensky's work after 1914. The artist explained part of the reason, writing that after the outbreak of World War I they had to flee to Switzerland, "with only that which we could carry, and we came to St. Prex. . . I had only a little room with one window to work in . . . I wanted to continue to paint my powerful, intensely colored pictures, but I felt that I couldn't. My soul did not permit me this sensual kind of painting . . . I had to find another language, a more spiritual language . . . . I sat in front of my window. Before me I saw a path, a few trees, and from time to time a mountain in the distance. I now began to seek a new way in art. It was an enormous task. I realized that I must paint not what I saw, not even what I felt, but only that which lived within me, in my soul . . . . and the nature which I had before me was only my prompter.
Details
- Artist Name: Alexei Jawlensky (Russian, 1864-1941)
- Title: Variation: Blue Fairy Tale
- Date: 1915-1916
- Medium: Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard
- Dimensions: 12-1/4 x 9-7/8 in. (31.1 x 25.1 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection
- Accession Number: P.1953.127
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Museum
Object Information
Galka Scheyer, by the 1930s;
Pasadena Art Institute, Pasadena, 1953-1954;
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena,1954-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, 1975.
The Blue Four: Feininger, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Paul Klee
- Oakland Art Gallery, 1931-08 to 1931-09-14
Homage to Jawlensky
- New York, Nierendorf Gallery, 1939-11-15 to
Alexei Jawlensky
- Norton Simon Museum, 1987-08-06 to 1987-12-13
Selections from the Galka E. Scheyer Collection
- Pasadena Art Museum, 1970-09-08 to 1970-12-17
My Four Kings: Galka Scheyer and the Blue Four
- Norton Simon Museum, 2002-12-13 to 2003-04-14
Jawlensky and the Serial Image
- Irvine, University of California, University Art Gallery, 1966-03-11 to 1966-03-31
- Riverside, University of California, Art Gallery, 1966-04-04 to 1966-04-30
Feininger, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Paul Klee. The Blue Four Galka E. Scheyer Collection
- Pasadena, Pasadena Art Museum, 1955-05-27 to 1955-08-30
Visions and Icons: the Art of Alexei Jawlensky
- Norton Simon Museum, 1990-01-18 to 1991-04-14
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
Alexei Jawlensky (1864-1941)
- Norton Simon Museum, 2007-05-04 to 2007-11-05
The Spirit of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in the New World
- Norton Simon Museum, 1994-11-17 to 1996-01-14
- Haas, Robert B., Du, p. 35
- Weiler, Clemens, Alexej Jawlensky: Heads, Faces, Meditations, 1971, no. 1163
- The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection, Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, 1976, no. 120 pp. 48-51
- Jawlensky, Maria, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky, and Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1914-1933, 1992, no. 676
- Barnett, Vivian Endicott, The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum, 2002, no. 140 pp. 123-124
Additional Artwork by Artist
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