Mystical Head: The Poison Blossom
1918
Alexei Jawlensky (Russian, 1864-1941)
Not on View

On the reverse of this painting, Jawlensky has inscribed: "If the light in you is extinguished, then a dark shadow of your own heart falls across your path. Be on guard against these terrible shadows. No light of your understanding can destroy the darknesses which flow out of your soul until all self-loving thoughts have been driven out."

Details

  • Artist Name: Alexei Jawlensky (Russian, 1864-1941)
  • Title: Mystical Head: The Poison Blossom
  • Date: 1918
  • Medium: Oil and pencil on cardboard mounted on wood
  • Dimensions: 19-3/8 x 15-5/8 in. (49.2 x 39.7 cm)
  • Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection
  • Accession Number: P.1953.158
  • Copyright: © Norton Simon Museum

Object Information

The artist, gift to;
Galka Scheyer, by 1923;
Pasadena Art Institute, Pasadena, 1953-1954;
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena,1954-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, 1975.

Jawlensky exhibition

  • Galerie Emil Richter, 1922-11-07 to

A View of the Century

  • Pasadena Art Museum, 1964-11-24 to 1964-12-19

Gesamt-Ausstellung Alexei von Jawlensky

  • Fritz Gurlitt (Gallery), 1920-06 to 1920-07
  • Munich, Galerie Hans Goltz, 1920-08-16 to 1920-09-11
  • Hannover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, 1920-09-30 to 1920-10-28
  • Frankfurt-am-Main, Galerie Schames, 1920-11 to 1920-12
  • Wiesbaden, Nassauischer Kunstverein und Wiesbadener Gesellschaft fur Bildende Kunste, 1921-01-09 to 1921-02
  • Barmen, Kunstverein/Ruhmeshalle, 1921-03 to 1921-04
  • Dusseldorf, Graphisches Kabinett J. B. Neumann, 1921-05 to 1921-06
  • Mannheim, Kunsthalle, 1921-11-06 to 1921-12-04
  • Essen, Kunstmuseum, 1922-02 to 1922-03

Olgemalde von Alexey von Jawlensky

  • Weimar, Landesmuseum, 1922-04-30 to 1922-06-01

Maven of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in California

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2017-04-07 to 2017-09-25

Jawlensky

  • Los Angeles, Stendahl Art Galleries, 1940-05-13 to 1940-06-01

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

  • Santa Barbara, Faulkner Memorial Art Gallery, 1932-03-03 to 1932-03-13

Blue Four exhibition

  • San Diego, San Diego Fine Arts Gallery, 1927-01 to 1927-02
  • San Diego, San Diego Fine Arts Gallery, to

Alexei Jawlensky (1864-1941)

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

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

  • Portland, Portland Art Association and the Museum of Art, 1927-04-08 to 1927-05-01
  • Spokane, Spokane Art Association, 1927-05-15 to 1927-05-31
  • San Francisco, California School of Fine Arts, 1927-03-01 to 1927-03-20

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

  • California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1931-04-23 to 1931-05-08

Blue Four exhibition

  • Henry Art Gallery, 1927-10 to 1927-10

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

  • Los Angeles, University of California, Los Angeles, Art Department, 1926-11 to 1926-12-28
  • Los Angeles, Los Angeles Museum, 1926-10 to

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

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

Jawlensky: Meine liebe Galka!

  • Wiesbaden, Museum Wiesbaden, 2004-10-23 to 2005-03-13

The Blue Four-Galka Scheyer Collection From The Norton Simon Museum

  • Henry Art Gallery, 1997-07-17 to 1997-10-05

Visions and Icons: the Art of Alexei Jawlensky

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

The Spirit of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in the New World

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1994-11-17 to 1996-01-14

Bauhaus Painters; Spirit of Modernism: Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, El Lissitzky, Oskar Schlemmer, Alexander Archipenko, Alexei Jawlensky and Others

  • Seoul, Ho-Am Art Museum, 1996-02-08 to 1996-04-28

My Four Kings: Galka Scheyer and the Blue Four

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2002-12-13 to 2003-04-14
  • Scheyer, E. E., Das Kunsblatt, 1919, p. 244
  • The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection, Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, 1976, no. 138 pp. 52, 69
  • Jawlensky, 1990, p. 20
  • Jawlensky, Maria, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky, and Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1914-1933, 1992, no. 990
  • Weiler, Clemens, Alexej von Jawlensky, 1995, no. 242
  • Barnett, Vivian Endicott, The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum, 2002, no. 153 pp. 139-140
  • Museum Wiesbaden, Jawlensky: Meine liebe Galka!, 2004, pp. 138, 140, 177
  • Gilbert Holzgang, Galka Scheyer : Ein Leben für Kunst und Kreativität, 2023, p. 269 (ill.)

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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