the Girl with the Green Face

 

Jawlenksky’s “The Girl With the Green Face”

    At first glance of the painting “Girl with the Green Face,” one may find the painting to be ugly or even amateur work. When I first glanced at it, so many thoughts went through my mind. The first thing that I noticed was how detailed her face was compared to the rest of her body, and I then discovered that it might be the whole point of the painting. Since her green face is the most unique and bizarre part of her being, it is the most beautiful. He might be trying to convey the message that our “flaws” may be the greatest treasures of our appearance.

The painter of this piece, Alexej Georgewitsch von Jawlensky, was born and raised in Russia and was apart of the Russian army until the age of 32. Then he and Marianne von Werefkin moved to Germany, where he could devote his life to art. He went to a private painting and drawing school in Munich. He focused on his environment and he used bright colors in his artwork. He was even so good that they asked him to teach at the school. He used Van Gogh’s style of short brush strokes and unmixed forms (Expressionism, pg 166). With this in mind, I believe that it shows why it is important to notice how detailed her face is in comparison to the rest of her body. With the face he actually blended in all of the colors, rather than using unmixed paints.

During this time period in Germany, expressionism was a huge thing that spread across the land. It affected all forms of media, including cinema (Eisner, pg 10). According to Wikipedia, “Expressionism was a cultural movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany in the 20th-Century. Its typical trait is to present the world under an utterly subjective perspective, violently distorting it to obtain an emotional effect and vividly transmit personal moods and ideas.” Because of this, it is easy to say that whatever Jawlensky was trying to get across involved some sort of emotion. Was this girl green with jealousy, or is she green because people are so envious of her? Whatever the case may be, there is obviously desire in this girl to be different than her current state.






Works Cited

"About This Artwork |." The Art Institute of Chicago. Web. 06 Jan. 2010. <http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/79588>.

Eisner, Lotte. The Haunted Screen Expressionism in the German Cinema and the Influence of Max Reinhardt. New York: University of California, 1974. Print.

Elger, Dietmar, Dr. Expressionism (Midsize). Los Angeles: Taschen, 2003. Print.

"Expressionism -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 06 Jan. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressionism>.