Alexej von Jawlensky

Alexej von Jawlensky’s Abstract Head: Easter (1933) – A Spiritual Exploration through Abstraction

Alexej von Jawlensky, a pioneer of German Expressionism and an influential member of the avant-garde movement, created a body of work that reflects his deep personal and spiritual journey. Among his many celebrated series, Abstract Head stands out for its emotive power and symbolic richness. One painting from this series, Abstract Head: Easter (1933), captures the essence of Jawlensky’s spiritual exploration and his search for a profound emotional connection between form and color. This work marks a pivotal moment in his career, reflecting his interest in transcending the physical world to express inner spirituality through abstraction.

Historical and Artistic Context

By the time Abstract Head: Easter was painted in 1933, Jawlensky had already established himself as a significant figure in the European avant-garde movement. He had close ties with other leading artists of his time, including Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, and was a founding member of the Blaue Reiter group, which sought to use color and form as means of expressing deeper spiritual and emotional truths. However, in the 1920s and 1930s, Jawlensky's work took on a more introspective and abstract quality, coinciding with his personal struggles and spiritual reflections.

The Abstract Head series, which began in the mid-1920s and continued until his death in 1941, became the artist’s means of distilling the human form to its most essential elements. This period in Jawlensky’s career was marked by a rejection of representational art in favor of a more symbolic, abstracted style, influenced by his personal interest in Eastern Orthodox spirituality and the role of religious iconography. Each of his Abstract Head paintings can be seen as a meditation on the human face, simplified into basic shapes and patterns that evoke a sense of universal humanity and transcendence.

Abstract Head: Easter, created in 1933, occupies a special place in this series, not only because of its spiritual significance but also because of its historical context. By this point, Europe was facing significant political and social upheaval, with the rise of fascism and the growing threat of war. Jawlensky, like many artists of his time, was deeply affected by these events, and his work became a reflection of the tension between despair and hope, mortality and faith.

Composition and Technique

In Abstract Head: Easter, Jawlensky continues the geometric abstraction that defines the Abstract Head series. The painting features a stylized, abstracted face, reduced to its most basic forms: an oval for the head, two circular eyes, and a narrow vertical line for the nose. Despite its simplicity, the painting carries an emotional weight that transcends its minimalistic form. The face appears serene, almost meditative, with its closed eyes and symmetrical composition evoking a sense of inner peace and spiritual contemplation.

The choice of color in Abstract Head: Easter is particularly significant. Jawlensky uses bold, contrasting colors—warm oranges and yellows, deep blues, and vibrant reds— to create a sense of dynamism and energy. These colors are not merely decorative; they carry symbolic meaning. The deep blue background, for example, may represent the infinite, the divine, or the eternal, while the warm, glowing colors of the face suggest life, vitality, and resurrection, aligning with the theme of Easter.

Jawlensky’s brushwork is smooth and deliberate, with clear, defined lines that create a sense of harmony and balance within the composition. The oval shape of the head is repeated in the shapes of the eyes and the halo-like form surrounding the face, reinforcing the painting’s spiritual undertones. The overall effect is one of quiet strength and serenity, as if the face is both emerging from and dissolving into the divine light that surrounds it.

Spiritual Themes and Symbolism

Abstract Head: Easter is rich with spiritual symbolism. The title itself, Easter, suggests themes of rebirth, renewal, and resurrection—central concepts in the Christian faith. For Jawlensky, who was deeply influenced by his Russian Orthodox upbringing, Easter represented not only the resurrection of Christ but also the possibility of spiritual renewal and transcendence for all humanity. The painting, therefore, can be seen as an expression of Jawlensky’s hope for redemption and spiritual awakening in the face of the darkness and uncertainty of the world around him.

The abstracted face in the painting resembles an icon, a form of religious art that Jawlensky greatly admired for its ability to convey spiritual truths through simple, symbolic imagery. Like the religious icons of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Abstract Head: Easter uses color and form not to represent the physical world but to evoke a sense of the divine. The closed eyes of the figure suggest inward contemplation, as if the face is not looking out at the viewer but is instead turned inward, focused on an inner spiritual experience.

The oval shape of the head and the surrounding halo-like form can also be interpreted as symbols of eternity and wholeness, reflecting Jawlensky’s belief in the cyclical nature of life and death, and the possibility of spiritual transcendence. The calm, meditative expression of the face, combined with the vibrant, glowing colors, suggests a state of spiritual enlightenment, a peaceful acceptance of life’s impermanence and the promise of resurrection.

Influence of Russian Icons and Eastern Orthodox Spirituality

Throughout his career, Jawlensky was deeply influenced by the religious icons of the Russian Orthodox Church. The abstracted faces in his Abstract Head series, including Easter, bear a striking resemblance to traditional religious icons, with their simplified, stylized forms and symbolic use of color. However, Jawlensky was not merely imitating religious art; he was using the language of abstraction to express his own spiritual journey.

In Orthodox iconography, the face of a saint is not meant to be a realistic portrait but a symbol of the divine. Similarly, in Abstract Head: Easter, the face is not a depiction of a specific person but a universal symbol of humanity’s spiritual nature. The abstracted, geometric shapes of the face and the bold, expressive colors evoke a sense of the divine presence within the human form, suggesting that all people are capable of spiritual enlightenment.

Jawlensky’s use of color in Abstract Head: Easter also reflects the influence of Russian icons, where colors are used not for their aesthetic value but for their symbolic meaning. In this painting, the warm, radiant colors of the face may represent the divine light of Christ, while the deep blue background suggests the infinite and the eternal. This use of color to convey spiritual meaning is central to Jawlensky’s work, and it is one of the reasons why his paintings continue to resonate with viewers today.

Jawlensky’s Later Years and the Role of Abstraction

By the time he painted Abstract Head: Easter in 1933, Jawlensky was entering the final phase of his career. His health was deteriorating, and he was suffering from arthritis, which made it increasingly difficult for him to paint. However, rather than slowing down, Jawlensky became more focused and determined in his artistic vision. He turned to abstraction as a way of distilling his ideas and emotions into their purest form.

In this later period, Jawlensky’s work became more introspective, with a focus on spiritual themes and the search for inner peace. The Abstract Head series, and particularly Easter, reflects this shift in his focus. By simplifying the human face to its most basic elements, Jawlensky was able to express the universal emotions of fear, hope, and faith. The abstract forms allowed him to move beyond the physical world and explore the deeper, spiritual dimensions of human existence.

For Jawlensky, abstraction was not an escape from reality but a way of confronting it head-on. In a world that was becoming increasingly chaotic and violent, abstraction allowed him to find a sense of order and meaning. Abstract Head: Easter, with its serene expression and harmonious composition, represents Jawlensky’s belief in the power of art to transcend the material world and connect with the divine.

Legacy and Influence

Abstract Head: Easter remains one of the most powerful examples of Jawlensky’s ability to use abstraction as a means of expressing deep spiritual truths. The painting’s emotional intensity, combined with its simplicity of form, has had a lasting impact on the development of abstract art. Jawlensky’s work influenced a generation of artists who sought to use color and form as a means of exploring the inner self, including painters like Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman, who were also interested in the spiritual dimensions of abstraction.

Jawlensky’s legacy as a pioneer of abstract art continues to be celebrated today, and Abstract Head: Easter stands as a testament to his belief in the power of art to convey spiritual meaning. The painting invites viewers to look beyond the surface and contemplate the deeper, universal truths that it represents—truths about life, death, and the possibility of transcendence.

 

 

 

Prints of Abstract Head: Easter, 1933 (oil on board)