Alexej von Jawlensky (Russia, 1864–1941), Seated Woman, 1911, oil on composition board, Cincinnati, Art Museum, Fanny Bryce Lehmer Endowment, 1975.73.

Audio Description

This painting, titled Seated Woman, was made in 1911 by Russian artist Alexej von Jawlensky, who lived from 1864 to 1941. It is an oil painting on composition board and was acquired by the Cincinnati Art Museum through the Fanny Bryce Lehmer Endowment. Its accession number is 1975.73

This highly stylized portrait is painted at life-size. The half-length form of a seated woman is constructed from a grouping of flat shapes, using fields of brushy bright, contrasting colors contained within loose black outlines. Her torso and arms fill most of the canvas, with the top of her head and her right elbow cut off by the edges. The back of a green couch or chair with a red border is visible behind her. Her hands are loosely folded on her lap, a white handkerchief in her right hand. A bun of black hair frames her wide oval face. Her large almond-shaped eyes are yellow-green where they should be white. Her red nose and cheeks stand out from her bright white face. She wears a black skirt and red blouse with black buttons and a green collar, on which is pinned a brooch or a bouquet of four yellow flowers. Over her shoulders is a dark red shawl with yellow accents. The figure and seat cast blue shadows on a thin strip of chartreuse background.

Label Copy

This painting, titled Seated Woman, was made in 1911 by Russian artist Alexej von Jawlensky, who lived from 1864 to 1941. It is an oil painting on composition board and was acquired by the Cincinnati Art Museum through the Fanny Bryce Lehmer Endowment. Its inventory number is 1975.73.

Alexej von Jawlensky trained in Moscow and St. Petersburg before moving to Munich with other Russian artists. In Germany, he began experimenting with free lines and bright, non-realist colors in his paintings. The artist based the figure in Seated Woman on his wife, Helene Nesnakomoff. A leader of the German Expressionist movement, Jawlensky counted among his friends the artists Emil Nolde, Wassily Kandinsky, and Henri Matisse.

The Nazis’ rise to power coincided with the later years of Jawlensky’s career, when he had settled in Wiesbaden. His work was labeled “degenerate,” seized from public collections, and destroyed or sold abroad. The 1937 “Degenerate Art” exhibition included eight of Jawlensky’s works. The artist died in 1941. Hundreds of his works were destroyed in an Allied bombing raid on Wiesbaden shortly before the end of the war.

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