Abstract Head 1930

Alexej von Jawlensky made this painting, Abstract Head, with oils on canvas, and right away you can see it’s about simplification. Look at how the colors sit next to each other, those blacks, reds and ochres. The paint is quite matte, applied in thin layers, with a kind of dry brush effect, which lends it a strange, almost ethereal quality. It’s like he’s finding the face, not building it. That single red dot on the right stands out, doesn't it? A full stop amid all the soft edges. Is it an earring, or some kind of bizarre growth? It's ambiguous, but it provides a key to the whole work: that tension between abstraction and just enough representation to create meaning. It reminds me a little of Marsden Hartley who also painted some pretty intense portraits around the same time. Both artists seem to suggest that the face is not just a surface, but a site of intense, spiritual experimentation.