Fine Art Framed
From $220
The same fine art print in a solid wood frame with UV-protective acrylic glaze and rigid backing. Five frame colours. Arrives ready to hang.
Astonishment - Alexej von Jawlensky
Regular price
$220.00 NZD
Sale price
$220.00 NZD
Regular price
Archival giclée
Frames arrive ready to hang
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Made to order
Description
A striking portrait by Alexej von Jawlensky, featuring his signature reduction of the human face into iconic, geometric forms and expressive colour.
Alexej von Jawlensky produced this work during the latter part of his career, a period defined by his systematic exploration of the human face. As a member of the Blue Rider group, Jawlensky moved away from the representational concerns of his early years, choosing instead to reduce the visage to a series of essential, almost iconic, geometric forms. In this portrait, the features are distilled into a meditative structure. The eyes are large, almond-shaped voids that dominate the composition, while the nose is rendered as a single, vertical line. The mouth is a simple, horizontal stroke of colour. Jawlensky applied paint with a deliberate economy, allowing the texture of the board to remain visible beneath the pigment. The colour palette is restrained, relying on cool blue tones for the skin, punctuated by sudden, sharp accents of red and yellow. These hues do not serve a descriptive purpose, but rather function as emotional markers. The black, calligraphic lines that define the contours of the face and the hair provide a rhythmic quality to the image, guiding the viewer across the surface of the work. This piece belongs to the series of 'Abstract Heads' or 'Meditations' that occupied the artist in his final decades. By stripping away the specificities of the individual sitter, Jawlensky sought to capture a universal spiritual state. The title, Astonishment, suggests a fleeting human reaction, yet the execution is static and timeless. The work invites a quiet contemplation of form and colour, reflecting the artist's interest in the intersection of religious iconography and modern abstraction. It is a study in reduction, where the complexity of human expression is translated into a language of pure shape and tone.
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Because every print is made to order, we don't offer change-of-mind returns, refunds or exchanges. If your order arrives faulty, damaged or incorrect, we'll replace it free of charge — just contact us within 48 hours of delivery. See our refunds page for full details.
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We ship worldwide, printing at the production hub nearest to your delivery address. Delivery times and costs vary by destination — you'll see the options available to you at checkout.
Manufacturing
Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Care and materials
Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
- Handle prints with clean, dry hands
Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Complete The Look
Astonishment - Alexej von Jawlensky
Regular price
From $130.00 NZD
Sale price
From $130.00 NZD
Regular price
Fine Art Framed / A4 (21x29.7 cm) / Black frame
Artist Biography
Alexej Von Jawlensky
By 1934, arthritis had locked Jawlensky's fingers and elbows. He clamped the brush between both hands, arms outstretched, and painted roughly a thousand small canvases he called Meditations. They are among the most concentrated devotional images in modern art, produced by a man who could barely move.
Jawlensky was born in Torzhok, Russia, in 1864, the fifth child of a military family. He trained as an officer in the Imperial Guard before abandoning that career in 1889 to study painting under Ilya Repin in St Petersburg. His patron and companion Marianne von Werefkin, herself a successful painter, financed their move to Munich in 1896. There he met Kandinsky, beginning a friendship that would shape both their careers.
Matisse, Van Gogh and Gauguin all pushed Jawlensky toward bolder colour, but his real catalyst was a trip to Provence in 1905 that convinced him colour could carry spiritual weight without representational accuracy. Back in Munich he produced intense, mask-like portraits: the Mystical Heads (1917 to 1919) and Saviour's Faces (1918 to 1920) drew directly on Russian Orthodox icon traditions from his childhood. He studied theosophy, yoga and Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophy, seeking a synthesis of Eastern and Western spiritual practice through paint.
He co-founded the New Munich Artists' Association with Kandinsky and later joined Der Blaue Reiter. In 1924, Emmy Scheyer (whom Jawlensky nicknamed "Galka", Russian for jackdaw) abandoned her own painting career to promote his work in America, forming Die Blaue Vier with Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Klee and Feininger. The First World War had already forced Jawlensky from Germany to Switzerland; he returned to Wiesbaden in 1921 and stayed until his death in 1941, increasingly isolated as the Nazis classified his work as degenerate.
Jawlensky was born in Torzhok, Russia, in 1864, the fifth child of a military family. He trained as an officer in the Imperial Guard before abandoning that career in 1889 to study painting under Ilya Repin in St Petersburg. His patron and companion Marianne von Werefkin, herself a successful painter, financed their move to Munich in 1896. There he met Kandinsky, beginning a friendship that would shape both their careers.
Matisse, Van Gogh and Gauguin all pushed Jawlensky toward bolder colour, but his real catalyst was a trip to Provence in 1905 that convinced him colour could carry spiritual weight without representational accuracy. Back in Munich he produced intense, mask-like portraits: the Mystical Heads (1917 to 1919) and Saviour's Faces (1918 to 1920) drew directly on Russian Orthodox icon traditions from his childhood. He studied theosophy, yoga and Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophy, seeking a synthesis of Eastern and Western spiritual practice through paint.
He co-founded the New Munich Artists' Association with Kandinsky and later joined Der Blaue Reiter. In 1924, Emmy Scheyer (whom Jawlensky nicknamed "Galka", Russian for jackdaw) abandoned her own painting career to promote his work in America, forming Die Blaue Vier with Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Klee and Feininger. The First World War had already forced Jawlensky from Germany to Switzerland; he returned to Wiesbaden in 1921 and stayed until his death in 1941, increasingly isolated as the Nazis classified his work as degenerate.
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Canvas
From $130
Hand-stretched canvas with neat gallery-wrapped edges, giving the artwork surface texture and depth. Arrives ready to hang.
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