Girl With Red Ribbon 1911

Alexej von Jawlensky made this portrait of a girl with a red ribbon with oil on board, we don’t know exactly when. I like how the colour sits on the surface, the paint looks wet, even though it must be dry by now. Look at how Jawlensky uses colour in the face: these bright yellows and reds seem arbitrary but are also somehow right. The paint is opaque, so it’s hard to see the process. Except, if you look closely at the background, you can see the marks of the brush in the green paint, almost like he’s scrubbing at the surface. Each stroke distinct, not blended, raw. The overall impression reminds me a little of Kirchner, maybe it’s those heavy black outlines. In both artists, there’s a kind of searching, a questioning that they leave visible in the final work. Neither seems interested in concealing the struggle. Ultimately, it's the process that makes the painting.