Oil on paper, laminated on cardboard. Signed and dated in the upper right. 55.5 x 51 cm. . [JS].

• Jawlensky's outstanding and rare portraits of the star dancer Sacharoff count among the highlights of European Modernism.
• The year 1913: Jawlensky painted his monumental 'Heads', Marc his 'Tower of Blue Horses', Kirchner his 'Berlin Street Scenes' and Schiele his best self-portraits on paper.
• After his portrait of Sacharoff (1909, Lenbachhaus Munich), Jawlensky painted two closely related Expressionist heads after the dancer in 1913: the present "Kopf in Bronzefarben - Bildnis Sacharoff" and the “Bildnis Sacharoff” (Jawlensky Collection, Museum Wiesbaden).
• Significant provenance and exhibition history: presented at the first exhibition of the New Munich Secession as early as 1914 and part of the important collections of Edmund Fabry and Dr. Hans Lühdorf for many decades.
We are grateful to Ms. Angelica Jawlensky-Bianconi, Alexej von Jawlensky Archive S.A., Muralto, Switzerland, and Dr. Roman Zieglgängsberger, Academic Advisory Board of the Alexej von Jawlensky Archive, Muralto/Switzerland, for their kind support in cataloging this lot.
LITERATURE: Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky, Angelica Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky. Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, vol. 1: 1890-1914, Munich 1991, cat. no. 602 (illustrated on p. 466). - - Ewald Rathke, Alexej Jawlensky, Hanau 1968, no. 32 (illustrated) Donald E. Gordon, Modern Art exhibitions 1900-1916. Selected catalogue documentation, Munich 1974, cat. no. 15 (illustrated) Christie's London, December 3, 1984, lot 36 (illustrated in b/w). Champin-Lombrail-Gautier, Enghien-les-Bains, June 21, 1990, lot 17 (illustrated). Angelica Jawlensky, L'ovale mistico, FMR, Milan, February 1991 (illustrated on p. 111). Dresden-Munich-Berlin. Figures du Moderne. Expressionism in Germany 1905-1914, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1992/93, cat. no. 225 (illustrated on p. 235). Bernd A. Gülker, Die verzerrte Moderne. Die Karikatur als populäre Kunstkritik in deutschen satirischen Zeitschriften, Münster 2001, p. 38 (illustration 43 on p. 153). Gottlieb Leinz, Das Jahr 1913. Skulptur als Form und Farbe, in: Alexej von Jawlensky-Archiv S. A., Reihe Bild und Wissenschaft. Forschungsbeiträge zu Leben und Werk Alexej von Jawlensky, vol. 2, Locarno 2005, p. 93 (illustrated in b/w, no. 3).
"Bronze Head - Portrait Sacharoff" (1913) - The perfect moment The expressionist Alexej von Jawlensky, who must have held the “Head in Bronze Colors - Portrait Sacharoff” in high esteem since he presented the painting at a seminal exhibition of the Munich Secession in 1914 shortly after its creation, was famous for his “loud” aggressive use of color. This painting is a prime example of the artist's delicate handling of softer tones, which may be much more challenging to achieve because he knew very well that not everything with color is also colorful. It should be noted that Jawlensky deliberately muted his bold palette around 1913 to create paintings with a deeper, somber tonality that would reverberate in the viewer as if in an echo chamber, thus unfolding a lasting impression. The same is true of the present bronze head, which fills much of the surface against a blue-gray background sprinkled with lively touches of green and claret, giving the dark head a pleasantly significant quality. The fact that it does not convey power or even menace is entirely due to the restrained colors, which flash out of the darkness only on his right cheek with an almost glistening quality, and, of course, to the fact that the thinker in the present work is depicted in the classic melancholic pose with his head resting on his hand. The question is how today's experts recognized the sitter for “Head in Bronze Colors” as one of the very few close friends of the artist, the dancer Alexander Sacharoff? To give two examples, an anonymous “Portrait of a Boy” was renamed “Nikita” after Marianne von Werefkin's nephew was identified. Or the “Portrait of a Man”, acquired by the Museum Wiesbaden from the famous art dealer Hanna Bekker vom Rath in 1954, was renamed “Portrait of Sacharoff” by Jawlensky's first biographer Clemens Weiler (presumably in consultation with the artist's son Andreas Jawlensky). Since the “Head in Bronze Colors” is undoubtedly the same size as its pendant in Wiesbaden and was also painted the same year, it is more than justified to call the painting “Portrait of Sacharoff” as well, especially since the dancer was a frequent guest at the home of Jawlensky and Werefkin at Giselastraße 23 in Munich/Schwabing. Even if it remains unclear which of the two paintings was created first, they must have been painted around the same time, judging by their similarity and the fact that they are both of excellent quality, seemingly executed at the exact perfect moment. All this is further proof that Jawlensky was already thinking in terms of making versions of a motif before the First World War, which later developed into his excellent series of “Abstract Heads” (from 1918) or the “Meditations” (from 1934). Although both of these pictures were still conceived as independent masterpieces, the idea of a complementary partner picture was already there. While the angular, antiquish-looking Sacharoff in Wiesbaden, depicted in profile, seems to be pondering some distant intellectual concept, the bronze-colored Sacharoff, frontally depicted and pleasantly fitting into the square, seems, for his narrow yellow eyes, like the epitome of a generally contemplative person. Dr. Roman Zieglgänsberger, member of the academic advisory board of the Alexej von Jawlensky Archive, Muralto/Switzerland, curator of Modern Art, Museum Wiesbaden
"Bronze Head - Portrait Sacharoff" (1913) - The perfect moment The expressionist Alexej von Jawlensky, who must have held the “Head in Bronze Colors - Portrait Sacharoff” in high esteem since he presented the painting at a seminal exhibition of the Munich Secession in 1914 shortly after its creation, was famous for his “loud” aggressive use of color. This painting is a prime example of the artist's delicate handling of softer tones, which may be much more challenging to achieve because he knew very well that not everything with color is also colorful. It should be noted that Jawlensky deliberately muted his bold palette around 1913 to create paintings with a deeper, somber tonality that would reverberate in the viewer as if in an echo chamber, thus unfolding a lasting impression. The same is true of the present bronze head, which fills much of the surface against a blue-gray background sprinkled with lively touches of green and claret, giving the dark head a pleasantly significant quality. The fact that it does not convey power or even menace is entirely due to the restrained colors, which flash out of the darkness only on his right cheek with an almost glistening quality, and, of course, to the fact that the thinker in the present work is depicted in the classic melancholic pose with his head resting on his hand. The question is how today's experts recognized the sitter for “Head in Bronze Colors” as one of the very few close friends of the artist, the dancer Alexander Sacharoff? To give two examples, an anonymous “Portrait of a Boy” was renamed “Nikita” after Marianne von Werefkin's nephew was identified. Or the “Portrait of a Man”, acquired by the Museum Wiesbaden from the famous art dealer Hanna Bekker vom Rath in 1954, was renamed “Portrait of Sacharoff” by Jawlensky's first biographer Clemens Weiler (presumably in consultation with the artist's son Andreas Jawlensky). Since the “Head in Bronze Colors” is undoubtedly the same size as its pendant in Wiesbaden and was also painted the same year, it is more than justified to call the painting “Portrait of Sacharoff” as well, especially since the dancer was a frequent guest at the home of Jawlensky and Werefkin at Gise