9069181355
Alexej von Jawlensky
Museum Boymans - vanBeuningen Rotterdam 1994
On Abstract Heads p. 220
It was only logical that he could only represent the harmony he had ben seeking for years, by dint of constant practice, in the human face, for only there do inside and outside, man and world, nature and soul meet, where "religion", in the truest sense of the word, takes place.
"And then I found it necessary to find a form for the face, because I had come to understand that great art can only be painted with religious feeling. And that I could only bring to the human face. I understood that the artist must express through his art, in forms and colours, the divine inside him. Therefore a work of art is god made visible, and art is "a longing for god"".
On Meditations p.249
In 1934 the seventy-year-old painter addressed the theme once more. In his series of "Meditations" the human face is reduced to the barest essentials.
The picture plane and the face are identical. Eyes, nose and mouth are little more than a few lines of paint, joined into a cross. This - Russian Orthodox - cruciform stands out against the ground, which is built up with elongated, parallel brushstrokes. The expression is largely determined by the painterly action. Ill-health had forced Jawlensky to devise a new technique...Out of sheer necessity he painted with outstretched arms, clutching the brush with both hands.
At a time when [some American artists] were exploring the artistic possibilities of repetition, Jawlensky´s series came as an absolute revelation.
The young Cage, who was so impressed by the meditations that he bought one, addressed Jawlensky as "mein Lehrer" in a letter.
