(Torzhok 1864–1941 Wiesbaden)
Oliven, Mauer, Wind - olive tree, wall, wind, c. 1907,
signed A. Jawlensky, on the reverse titled, inscribed N. 16
and by another hand Z.20, oil on board, 49.7 x 52.7 cm, framed

Photo certificate:
Archiv Alexej von Jawlensky, Maria Jawlensky, Locarno 5. September 1988

Provenance:
Galerie Elrick, Wiesbaden
Sotheby’s London, 4 December 1985, lot 171, ill.
Sotheby’s New York, 15 May 1985, lot 333, ill.
Christie’s London, 28 November 1989, lot 334, ill, p. 153
Christie’s London, 30 June 1992, lot 157
Private Collection, Germany

Literature:
Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky, Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Volume One, 1890–1914, no. 173, p. 158f

Exhibited:
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Alexej von Jawlensky,
17.7.-13.9.1964, no. 33
Frankfurter Kunstverein Steinernes Haus, Kunstverein Hamburg, Jawlensky,
16.9. - 22.10.1967, no. 70, ill. (exhibition label on the reverse)
Espace van Gogh, Arles, Jawlensky, 3. 4- 30.6.1993,
(exhibition label on the reverse)

“I realised that the artist must express in his art, through the forms and colours, that within him which is divine. That is why the work of art is a visible God, and why art is a ‘longing for God’.”
Alexej von Jawlensky

Around 1900, Alexej von Jawlensky was still searching for his own style when he underwent his training in the studio of the painter Anton Ažbe in Munich. He was particularly enthused by the works of the French Impressionists and studied Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin in depth. Jawlensky’s fascination with the works of van Gogh is clearly evident in the paintings he produced after his trip to Paris in 1903.
The 1907 painting “Olivestree, Wall, Wind”, which was probably painted during another trip to France in 1906, reveals Alexej von Jawlensky’s enthusiasm for the Dutchman’s paintings. This is shown both in his brushstrokes and in his choice of the various green and purple shades. On closer inspection, Jawlensky’s own style is already clearly recognisable in this work. By contrast to his great role model van Gogh, Jawlensky does not position his strokes of colour rhythmically, but rather spontaneously, following the subject of the painting. The olive, the wall and the surrounding landscape are wholly subordinate to colour’s power, without extreme attention to detail: the overall composition must be right, as must the overall shade. Jawlensky handled colour exactly in line with the ideas developed by the Fauves group of artists, founded in 1905. Colour is supposed to offload light, and the coloured surfaces are constructed in such a way that the colour in the painting can have its strongest possible impact. Colour’s function as an agent was just as important as its physical properties as a material. Jawlensky applies the paint to the image medium and works straight onto the cardboard, as he had learned from Ažbe in Munich.