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Russian émigré artists and political opposition in fin-de-siècle Munich

Russian émigré artists and political opposition in fin-de-siècle Munich

Russian émigré artists and political opposition in fin-de-siècle Munich

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Emporia State Research Studies 45(1), 2009 16of art critics, not <strong>artists</strong>, who should just be concerned withmak<strong>in</strong>g art. 90 The art object should speak for itself.The public’s ability to access their artistic <strong>in</strong>tent factored <strong>in</strong>toK<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>sky’s technical pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g method, ‘hid<strong>de</strong>n construction’or versteckte Konstruktion, 91 <strong>in</strong> which he began to veil hisimages by disallow<strong>in</strong>g the traditional viewer’s expectationthat what she/he was see<strong>in</strong>g was literally <strong>de</strong>picted. 92 Onesimply could no longer be sure. Initiated <strong>in</strong> 1908, specificobjects - trees, horses <strong>and</strong> build<strong>in</strong>gs for example - were hid<strong>de</strong>nas abstracted elements <strong>in</strong> a pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g, often by plac<strong>in</strong>g theobject where it would not be expected or simplify<strong>in</strong>g its formby ren<strong>de</strong>r<strong>in</strong>g it only <strong>in</strong> partial outl<strong>in</strong>e. 93 K<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>sky’s glasspa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g Small Pleasures, 1911 (Fig. 4) for example, reveals<strong>de</strong>tails not readily apparent <strong>in</strong> the later oil version from 1913(Fig. 5) as Rose Carol Washton Long has discussed. 94 Inclu<strong>de</strong>damong many such elements are two st<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g figures located<strong>in</strong> the lower left corner as well as a blue horse <strong>and</strong> ri<strong>de</strong>r - allboldly outl<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> black <strong>in</strong> the earlier image. Yet <strong>in</strong> the 1913version, these figures lose their precision <strong>and</strong> dist<strong>in</strong>ctness -hazy, broken l<strong>in</strong>es for some of the figures, for example - wherea <strong>de</strong>f<strong>in</strong>itive outl<strong>in</strong>e once stood. Essentially a shadow of theirorig<strong>in</strong>al physical form, they were <strong>in</strong>ten<strong>de</strong>d to reeducate theviewer towards a nobler spiritual level of engagement <strong>and</strong>avoid the materialism associated with representational art. 95Jawlensky <strong>and</strong> Werefk<strong>in</strong> did not <strong>de</strong>part from representation,but abstracted <strong>and</strong> accentuated contours, distorted forms <strong>and</strong>were us<strong>in</strong>g highly saturated non-naturalistic colors at thistime. Often impact<strong>in</strong>g the viewer more for their jarr<strong>in</strong>gunconventionality, they cont<strong>in</strong>ued to refer to naturalism’s<strong>de</strong>piction of the real world. Jawlensky, who had been<strong>in</strong>terested <strong>in</strong> the work of Matisse <strong>and</strong> the Fauves <strong>and</strong> whosework he had admired <strong>in</strong> Paris <strong>in</strong> 1906, 96 had been concernedwith realiz<strong>in</strong>g color’s expressive potential. His pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g Girlwith the Green Face, 1910 (Fig. 6) is less a portrait than avisual documentation of the emotional substance of the sitter,<strong>in</strong>ten<strong>de</strong>d to capture her beauty as an <strong>in</strong>dividual human be<strong>in</strong>grather than her precise physical likeness. Although equal <strong>in</strong>color saturation, he dist<strong>in</strong>guishes those areas which are partof her body - such as her face <strong>and</strong> hair - <strong>and</strong> those which arenot, such as her clothes <strong>and</strong> light blue hair bows. The formerare ren<strong>de</strong>red with several colors, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g mid-range to lightgreen, yellow, yellow-orange, orange-yellow <strong>and</strong> brightorange for her flesh to the same orange-yellow <strong>and</strong> mediumbrown for her hair, <strong>de</strong>signed to convey a nuanced sense ofwho she is as a person. Her simple, monochromatic clothes<strong>and</strong> the pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g’s upper green background produce aflatten<strong>in</strong>g effect, a bold, <strong>de</strong>corative environment with whichthe viewer is gui<strong>de</strong>d towards her head, where the true sourceof her character exists. The chair back beh<strong>in</strong>d her shoul<strong>de</strong>rslends some <strong>de</strong>pth, by play<strong>in</strong>g on the horizontal l<strong>in</strong>es of hershoul<strong>de</strong>rs <strong>and</strong> provid<strong>in</strong>g some textural structure - as this isthe only area <strong>in</strong> the pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g <strong>de</strong>l<strong>in</strong>eated by verticalbrushstrokes. Jawlensky discussed with Werefk<strong>in</strong> theimportance of us<strong>in</strong>g l<strong>in</strong>e to br<strong>in</strong>g out the abstracted nature ofcolor, 97 <strong>and</strong> did so by vary<strong>in</strong>g l<strong>in</strong>e weight, width <strong>and</strong> pa<strong>in</strong>tthickness to correspond to it. Black pigment separates thepr<strong>in</strong>ciple areas of color he wants the viewer to <strong>in</strong>terpret butalso clarifies the dist<strong>in</strong>ct function each l<strong>in</strong>e segment has <strong>and</strong>its relationship to the larger whole. His strategy for reveal<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>ternal human states <strong>and</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dividual’s organic emotionalFigure 4. Wassily K<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>sky, Small Pleasures, 1911, glasspa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g, 12 1/16 x 15 7/8 <strong>in</strong>. Städtische Galerie imLenbachhaus, <strong>Munich</strong>. © 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS),New York/ADAGP, Paris.Figure 5. Wassily K<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>sky, Small Pleasures, June 1913,oil on canvas, 43 ¼ x 47 1/8 <strong>in</strong>. Solomon R. GuggenheimMuseum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Found<strong>in</strong>gCollection. © 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris.

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