Oil on cardboard. Signed and dated in the upper left. 100 x 69.5 cm.
With the expressionist Murnau landscape from the same year on the reverse. Jawlensky also used this highly abstract landscape motif in a smaller format in the painting “Murnauer Landschaft”, today part of the collection of the 'Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus', Munich (Murnauer Landschaft, 1909, 50.4 x 54.5 cm, catalogue raisonné no. 283). [JS].
- Jawlensky's portraits from 1909 and 1910 are considered milestones of European Modernism. - “Spanish Dancer” - a masterpiece of unbridled expressionist quality, comparable to Jawlensky's famous “Portrait of the Dancer Aleksandr Sakharov” (1909, Lenbachhaus Munich). - Almost all of the paintings from this short creative phase that is characterized by strong colors are owned by international museums today. - Alongside “Girl with Peonies” (Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal) and “Red Lips” (lost), this is the largest painting from this important work phase. - Both sides were painted during Jawlensky's best creative period: the reverse shows a bright and highly abstract Murnau landscape from 1909. - Shortly after it was made, it became part of the important modern art collection of Josef Gottschalk in Düsseldorf, and remained in the family for over nine decades. - The “Blue Rider” is currently honored with a comprehensive exhibition at the Tate Modern (until October 2024).
Export of the work from Germany will be possible.
LITERATURE: Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky, Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky. Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, vol. 1: 1890-1914, Munich 1991, no. 239 (illustrated in black and white on the front and back). - - Cf. on the landscape on the reverse: Alexej von Jawlensky-Archiv (ed.), Reihe Bild und Wissenschaft. Forschungsbeiträge zu Leben und Werk Alexej von Jawlenskys, vol. 3, Ascona 2009, pp. 150-151 (fig. 14, reverse). ARCHIVE MATERIAL: Düsseldorf Municipal Archives, no. 0-1-4-22016.0000, “Modern Art” collection of Emma Gottschalk, pp. 563-565 (on the exhibition of the Gottschalk Collection, 1946/47). Düsseldorf Municipal Archives, no. 0-1-4-3907.0000, Gottschalk Painting Collection, p. 165 (on the exhibition of the Gottschalk Collection, 1946/47).