Alexej
Von Jawlensky
Alexej von Jawlensky, a Russian Expressionist painter, channelled raw emotion into vibrant portraits and landscapes. If you’re looking for original Alexej von Jawlensky prints and editions for sale or would like to sell, request a complimentary valuation and browse our network’s most in-demand works.
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Biography
A key figure in the Expressionist Art movement, Alexej von Jawlensky is renowned for his vivid use of colour and the emotional intensity of his portraits and landscapes. His work is known for its pioneering spirit, contributing to the advancement of Modern Art.
Born in 1864 in Torschok, Russia, Jawlensky exhibited an early affinity for art, a passion that would ultimately guide him to the avant-garde circles of Europe. Initially pursuing a military career, he soon abandoned this path to immerse himself in Munich’s art scene, where he studied under the tuition of the realist painter Anton Ažbe. Here, he met fellow artists Wassily Kandinsky, Marianne von Werefkin, and Gabriele Münter, with whom he would form the progressive New Artists' Association Munich (Neue Künstlervereinigung München).
Marked by a relentless exploration of colour and form, Jawlensky's artistic development was defined by an increased spiritual introspection. His early work was influenced by the Fauves and their bold, non-naturalistic use of colour. However, Jawlensky's distinctive style began to crystallise when he co-founded the Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter), alongside Kandinsky and other artists. This group championed a radical approach to art, emphasising the expression of inner feelings over representational accuracy.
Throughout his career, Jawlensky ventured through various phases, each characterised by a stylistic evolution. His landscapes and still lifes burst with vibrant hues and simplified forms, while his series of Abstract Heads and Meditations drew on the emotional resonance of the human face, reflecting the artist’s ongoing interest in the connection between representation and emotion.
During World War I, Jawlensky's work demonstrated a deepening spiritualism. The emotionally led, pared back approach to representation seen in Jawlensky’s Abstract Heads painting series can be felt in Jawlensky's print series. In Köpfe, a 1922 lithograph series, the artist depicts emotional human faces through a simple arrangement of angular lines. The lithography medium lent itself to the poignant simplicity of the subject. These compositions, each containing no more than 18 marks in total, are more concerned with spirituality than with the physicality of the human face. These prints demonstrate the artist’s interest in the connections between the material and the immaterial.