Alexej von Jawlensky, 1864 Torschok - 1941 Wiesbaden MEDITATION... Lot 550

Alexej von Jawlensky, 1864 Torschok - 1941 Wiesbaden MEDITATION Oil on cardboard. 18.5 x 12.5 cm. The monogram signature "A.J." at lower left in darker ochre tone. In passe-partout, framed behind glass. Verso octagonal rubber stamp "GURLITT / GALLERY / BERLIN / TL 3884", below printed gallery text sticker with inscription "Kopf Meditation 1935". The Russian-German painter belongs to the inner circle of Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) and Franz Marc (1880-1916) as well as to the group of artists "Der Blaue Reiter". Jawlensky was trained in Moscow by Marianne von Werefkin (1870-1938), recommended by the famous painter Ilja Repin (1844-1930). He moved to Munich with the painter and her eleven-year-old maid, who lived with her. The training by Anton Azbe (1862-1905), who probably also promoted his interest in increased color intensity, had a greater influence there. But also Lovis Corinth (1858-1925), Wilhelm Leibl (1844-1900), Leo Putz (1869-1940) and Wilhelm Trübner (1851-1917) now left influences, as well as Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), whose work he dealt with in the years after 1904. Working stays in the surroundings of Munich followed. One of the highlights of this period is the famous "Portrait of Sacharoff". As far as this work is concerned, it shows the break with Jawlensky's painting style long before that. When Galka Scheyer (1889-1945), 25 years younger than Jawlensky, came into his life in 1916, the painter had to move to Switzerland due to the war, the first of his "constructive heads", which he himself also called "Christ's heads", were created. In 1920 he had three "Saviour's faces", among others, sent from Ascona to the Biennale in Venice. This was followed by a further development towards his "Abstract Heads" in order to achieve an even more noticeable distance from the human model. The face was to be only a metaphor. In the end a fusion of the basic composition of a face with the