Female Head 1919 - 1920

Curator: Alexej von Jawlensky created this oil painting titled "Female Head" sometime between 1919 and 1920. The scale feels intimate, yet those dark eyes project an almost unsettling intensity. Editor: The symmetry is striking—almost brutally so. That sharp, vertical axis dividing the face feels less like a natural feature and more like a structural element, bisecting any sense of conventional beauty. Curator: It's interesting you say that. The simplified form is deliberate, almost archetypal. Note how the artist utilizes color—blues and reds contrasting to construct a compelling arrangement, but one seemingly untethered from naturalism. It functions independently, yes? Editor: Precisely! These choices have cultural echoes for me. I see remnants of religious icons, almost Byzantine, in the geometry and those arresting, staring eyes, regardless of Jawlensky's intentions. There's an ancient, almost totemic quality, despite the modernist idiom. That single tear-like mark feels particularly charged. Curator: Ah, an excellent observation! That red and blue pairing might indeed evoke familiar, archetypal sadness or, more pointedly, lament. Editor: The symbolism adds an undeniably profound depth to the painting; but even abstracting this from an Iconographic read of that emotive element, I cannot divorce my interpretations from centuries of codified visual language concerning women and weeping. Curator: I'm fascinated by your insights. And it’s difficult to deny these cross-cultural, temporal meanings that visuals assume once released from the maker's intention. For me, "Female Head" reveals just how powerfully abstract form and a carefully limited palette can work to distill pure visual expression beyond straightforward mimesis. Editor: And yet, despite that abstraction, these are clearly emotions deeply embedded in our collective history. Curator: A compelling intersection. Thanks for illuminating it for me. Editor: The pleasure was all mine.