Mystischer Kopf; Rabenflügel Iv 1918

Alexej von Jawlensky made this painting of a head, probably in 1918, from what I can see in the corner there, building up colours like soft pastel blocks on a warm ochre ground. Just imagine him at work, perhaps squinting slightly. He seems to have been figuring out the face, not quite symmetrically, but more feeling his way into it. A dark line for the nose, dividing those rather stern, wide eyes. Patches of purplish-grey, blue and red are dabbed around the face, as if loosely mapping different emotional registers. The paint is not thick, maybe thinned with turpentine, allowing for a more fluid application. The dark hair frames the face, its graphic quality echoed in the loose black squiggles that hang on either side. The colour choices suggest a dialogue with Matisse, but also Kirchner. And like those artists, it is trying to find something more essential, primal, maybe even spiritual in the act of portraiture. It's as if he's asking: what can a face really tell us?