Variation: Blue Fairy Tale
1915-1916
Alexei Jawlensky (Russian, 1864-1941)
Not on View

There was a profound change in Jawlensky's work after 1914. The artist explained part of the reason, writing that after the outbreak of World War I they had to flee to Switzerland, "with only that which we could carry, and we came to St. Prex. . . I had only a little room with one window to work in . . . I wanted to continue to paint my powerful, intensely colored pictures, but I felt that I couldn't. My soul did not permit me this sensual kind of painting . . . I had to find another language, a more spiritual language . . . . I sat in front of my window. Before me I saw a path, a few trees, and from time to time a mountain in the distance. I now began to seek a new way in art. It was an enormous task. I realized that I must paint not what I saw, not even what I felt, but only that which lived within me, in my soul . . . . and the nature which I had before me was only my prompter.

Details

  • Artist Name: Alexei Jawlensky (Russian, 1864-1941)
  • Title: Variation: Blue Fairy Tale
  • Date: 1915-1916
  • Medium: Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard
  • Dimensions: 12-1/4 x 9-7/8 in. (31.1 x 25.1 cm)
  • Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection
  • Accession Number: P.1953.127
  • Copyright: © Norton Simon Museum

Object Information

The artist;
Galka Scheyer, by the 1930s;
Pasadena Art Institute, Pasadena, 1953-1954;
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena,1954-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, 1975.

The Blue Four: Feininger, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Paul Klee

  • Oakland Art Gallery, 1931-08 to 1931-09-14

Homage to Jawlensky

  • New York, Nierendorf Gallery, 1939-11-15 to

Alexei Jawlensky

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1987-08-06 to 1987-12-13

Selections from the Galka E. Scheyer Collection

  • Pasadena Art Museum, 1970-09-08 to 1970-12-17

My Four Kings: Galka Scheyer and the Blue Four

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2002-12-13 to 2003-04-14

Jawlensky and the Serial Image

  • Irvine, University of California, University Art Gallery, 1966-03-11 to 1966-03-31
  • Riverside, University of California, Art Gallery, 1966-04-04 to 1966-04-30

Feininger, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Paul Klee. The Blue Four Galka E. Scheyer Collection

  • Pasadena, Pasadena Art Museum, 1955-05-27 to 1955-08-30

Visions and Icons: the Art of Alexei Jawlensky

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1990-01-18 to 1991-04-14

The Galka Scheyer Collection: Klee, Nolde, Jawlensky, Moholy-Nagy, Schmidt-Rottluff, Schwitters, Archipenko, Kandinsky, Lissitzky, Feininger, Kirchner, Dix_1

  • La Jolla, Art Center in La Jolla, 1960-07-05 to 1960-08-14

Alexei Jawlensky (1864-1941)

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2007-05-04 to 2007-11-05

The Spirit of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in the New World

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1994-11-17 to 1996-01-14
  • Haas, Robert B., Du, p. 35
  • Weiler, Clemens, Alexej Jawlensky: Heads, Faces, Meditations, 1971, no. 1163
  • The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection, Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, 1976, no. 120 pp. 48-51
  • Jawlensky, Maria, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky, and Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1914-1933, 1992, no. 676
  • Barnett, Vivian Endicott, The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum, 2002, no. 140 pp. 123-124

Additional Artwork by Artist

Abstract Head: Small Head on Wood Alexei Jawlensky 1921
Head Alexei Jawlensky 1912
Head Inclined to the Right, with Closed Eyes Alexei Jawlensky c. 1922

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