The Artist (until 1922)
Wilhelm & Hedwig Buller, Duisburg (acquired by 1955)
Private Collection, Frankfurt (acquired from the above circa 1970)
Thence by descent to the present owner in 2013

Barmen, Kunstverein, Alexej von Jawlensky, 1922
Düsseldorf, Kunstverein der Rheinlande und Westfalen, Sammlung Wilhelm Buller, 1955, no. 132, illustrated in the catalogue (titled as Landschaft)
Duisburg, Städtisches Kunstmuseum, Alte und Neue Kunst aus heimischem Privatbesitz, 1956-57, no. 119, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna & Contemporanea, Da Van Gogh a Schiele, 1989, n.n., illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky & Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalogue raisonné of the oil-paintings 1890-1914, London, 1991, vol. I, no. 557, illustrated p. 430 (titled as Landscape)

The board is stable and there do not appear to be any signs of retouching visible under UV light. There are some tiny flecks of paint loss towards the left part of the upper edge and a few tiny fly spots in places. There is some lovely impasto and this work is in overall good condition.
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Dating from 1912 at the height of the artist's involvement with Der Blaue Reiter group, Kleine Landschaft mit Telegraphenstangen is an exquisite example of the colour-infused landscapes Alexej von Jawlensky painted in the mountainous region of Oberstdorf in the Bavarian Alps. A vividly coloured house nestles within a wooded valley, whilst the chimney of a nearby factory soars dramatically into the air. Three telegraph poles – a frequently recurring motif within Jawlensky’s landscapes of this time – populate the composition. The entire scene is dominated by the majestic presence of the mountains, delineated in bold sweeps of deep pink and midnight blue pigment, whilst feathery brushstrokes suggest the impression of fast-moving clouds within the sky.

In its use of colour and style of execution, the present work draws on a rich tradition of Modernist painting, including the art of, among others, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse and Kees Van Dongen. In 1905 Jawlensky’s works were exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in Paris alongside the Fauve artists, who were to play the most important role in the development of Jawlensky’s style in the following years. His abandonment of representational use of colour in favour of a more spontaneous, expressive one is particularly reminiscent of Matisse’s landscapes from his Fauve period. Kleine Landschaft mit Telegraphenstangen represents a synthesis of these various artistic influences into a personal and unique pictorial language. Volker Rattemeyer has noted that: ‘The term "synthesis" provides an important key to our understanding of Jawlensky’s works… The landscapes of the Murnau period are characterized as a whole by an intense involvement with surface, pictorial area and the effects of colour. Contours that seem to vibrate as well as frequent severe cropping of pictorial motifs provide evidence of Jawlenky’s independent position in the artistic world at the time. The tendencies rooted in the landscapes from the Murnau period were to be intensified in the years that followed…  Jawlensky’s works after 1911 gained in intensity of their colouration… as well as a heightened power of expression’ (Volker Rattemeyer, Alexej von Jawlensky (e꧑xhibition catalogue), Museum, Wiesbaden, 1991, pp. 14-15).

The present work is titled on the reverse by Galka Scheyer, a painter, dealer and collector who was instrumental in the foundation of Die Blauen Vier in 1924 (the group which included Wassily Kandinsky, Lyonel Feininger and Paul Klee as well as Jawlensky). In 1920 Scheyer organised an exhibition of Jawlensky's works, which was to travel Germany for three years until 1923. It is likely that the present work was titled by Scheyer on this 🎀occasion. Sche𓂃yer keenly promoted the work of Die Blauen Vier in the United States, encouraging greater recognition for these artists outside Europe.