Jawlensky Exhibition 1956

Artist: Alexej von Jawlensky Russian (1864-1941)

Title: Jawlensky Exhibition 1956

Plate: ML. 06

Description: Condition A+

Original Lithograph, backed on linen.
printed by Ateliers Mourlot in Paris 1956.
Special Provenance: This original exhibition poster was part of a complete set of 1950's and 60's Mourlot exhibition posters in covers purchased directly from the Mourlot family by Chris Yaneff (gallery founder) while travelling in France during the early 1970's.

Sheet Size: 20 1/2 in x 29 in 33.8 cm x 48.7 cm

Price: $225.00

Poster for Alexej von Jawlensky 1956 exhibit Galerie Fricker, Paris.
 "Portrait in black and green",  painted in 1913 

Alexei Jawlensky, “Self-Portrait with Top Hat” (1904) 
© Alexei Jawlensky / ARS, NY

Alexej von Jawlensky was one of the best portrait artists of the Expressionism school, and ranked among the great modern artists from Russia,  Jawlensky, was classically trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg, under Ilya Repin (1844-1930). He however was not destined to develop into a traditional artist, and instead became one of Europe's leading Expressionist painters. In 1896 he moved to Germany and became a founding member of the New Munich Artist's Association. Later he became one of the five core artists in Der Blaue Reiter - one of the most influential groups involved in German Expressionism. Known as the "Russian Matisse", Jawlensky's vivid colourism and passionate brushstrokes were key features of his art. Early influences came from Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky and Van Gogh. Jawlensky is best known for his portrait art, notably his sequences of Heads, Jawlensky's expressionism is instantly recognizable and, along with that of Modigliani, ranks among the most sought after work from the early 20th century.(visual-arts-cork.com)

Section of the "San Francisco Examiner" from 1 November 1925, and five photo cutouts depicting (from left) Galka Scheyer, Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Alexej Jawlensky

Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) was a group of artists united in rejection of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München in Munich. The group was founded by a number of Russian emigrants, including Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin, and native German artists, such as Franz Marc, Paul Klee, August Macke and Gabriele Münter. They considered that the principles of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München, a group Kandinsky had founded in 1909, had become too strict and traditional. Der Blaue Reiter was an art movement lasting from 1911 to 1914, fundamental to Expressionism, along with Die Brücke which was founded in 1905.

Fernand Mourlot (left) with Henri Matisse at Ateliers Mourlot, Paris

Ateliers Mourlot. In 1852, Francois Mourlot opened Ateliers Mourlot in Paris as a commercial print shop that primarily produced wallpaper. When Francois’s grandson Fernand Mourlot took over the shop in the 1920s, however, he converted it into a studio dedicated to the printing of illustrated books and lithographic posters. Though lithography had more or less gone out of style during the 19th century, Fernand brought it back with a single-mindedness that would change printmaking forever.

Over the next four decades, Fernand brought in the greatest Modernists of his day to produce color lithographs. French painters Maurice de Vlaminck and Maurice Utrillo were among the first to work with Mourlot, though it was not long before the atelier began to reach an even broader crowd including Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Henri Matisse, and Fernand Léger. Lithographs were conceived as announcements for exhibitions, ads for tourism or even illustrations for political events that were posted throughout the streets of Europe, and in windows of shops and cafés. (Artnet.com)