Circa 1905-1906, Alexej von Jawlensky, a Russian painter and member of the German Expressionism, spent some time in Carantec, Brittany (France) following the footsteps of Gauguin and the artists of the Pont-Aven School from whom he retained the synthetic shapes and arbitrary colors.
It's during this period that he painted in broad brushstrokes Portrait de Madame Sid where color and shape become one. For Jawlensky and the Expressionists, art must express the emotional and spiritual state of the individual.
Thanks to Diaghilev, Jawlensky sent six paintings to the Salon d'Automne of 1905 which were exhibited in the Russian section at the very same time when the fauve scandal broke out and of which our painting with its striking and pure colors could be part of.
Date: circa 1905 Period: 20th century Origin: France Medium: Oil on cardboard Signature:
Signed lower right: A. Jawlensky
Dimensions: 53 x 49 cm (20⁷/₈ x 19¹/₄ inches) Provenance: Private collection. Redfern Gallery, Londres. John Levy. Private collection.
Literature: Maria Jawlensky, Alexej Von Jawlensky : Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1890-1914, Tome I, Sotheby's Publications, 1991, illustrated under the n°88, p.97.
Exhibitions: Alexej von Jawlensky, Museum Wiesbaden, Germany, 1912, n°52. Alexej von Jawlensky, Redfern Gallery, London, 1956, n°40. Label on the back. Alexej von Jawlensky, Redfern Gallery, London, 1960, n°43. Artist and Maecenas, a Tribute to C. Valentin, Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, 1963, n°225. Label on the back.
