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Marianne von Werefkin | |
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| Марианна Верёвкина | |
 Self-portrait,c. 1910 | |
| Born | Marianna Vladimirovna Veryovkina (1860-09-10)10 September 1860 Tula, Russian Empire |
| Died | 6 February 1938(1938-02-06) (aged 77) Ascona, Ticino, Switzerland |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Expressionism |
Marianne von Werefkin (bornMarianna Vladimirovna Veryovkina;Russian:Мариа́нна Влади́мировна Верёвкина,IPA:[mərʲɪˈanːəvlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvnəvʲɪˈrʲɵfkʲɪnə]; 10 September [O.S. 29 August] 1860 – 6 February 1938)[a] was a Russian artist, whose work is celebrated as a central part of GermanExpressionism.
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Werefkin was born to Elizabeth née Daragan (1834–1885) and Vladimir Nikolayevich Veryovkin (1821–1896), commander of theYekaterinburg Regiment inTula, the capital of theTula Governorate. Her father was ofRussian nobility whose ancestors came from Moscow. He made a career in theImperial Russian Army, becoming a general and finally commander of thePeter and Paul Fortress inSaint Petersburg. Her mother belonged to an old family ofCossack princes, whose father, Lieutenant general Peter Mikhailovich Daragan (1800–1875), was the governor of Tula from 1850 to 1866, the official palace is where her daughter Marianne was born.In 1874, Werefkin's talent for drawing was discovered. Werefkin immediately received academic drawing lessons. As a teenager, Werefkin had a large studio in thePeter and Paul Fortress and anatelier on her family's summer estate named "Blagodat" (Grace or Blessing) in Lithuania (at that time occupied by Russia). It is located about 7 kilometres northwest of the provincial town ofUtena in Vyžuonėlės Park, which was declared a Lithuanian natural monument in 1958. Werefkin regarded the estate and the landscape there as her real home.[citation needed]
In 1880, Werefkin became a private student ofIlya Repin, the most important representative of thePeredvizhniki ("wandering painters"), who represented RussianRealism. Through Repin, Werefkin came into contact with the artists' colony ofAbramtsevo and withValentin Serov, Repin's second private student, at an early stage. From 1883 in Moscow, Werefkin studied painting withIllarion Pryanishnikov and attended lectures by the philosopherVladimir Solovyov. In 1888, Repin created the 'Portrait of Marianne Werefkin' (Bildnis Marianne Werefkin [de]), Werefkin had suffered in that same year a hunting accident in which she accidentally shot her right hand, the painter's hand.[citation needed]
Werefkin's first artistically important work phase was before 1890 when she made a name for herself in the realistic painting as the "RussianRembrandt" of theTsarist Empire. Some works have been preserved, others can only be verified through photos, and many have disappeared. After 1890, Werefkin modernized her painting style and switched toEn plein air painting with traits of Eastern EuropeanImpressionism. Only two paintings from this period appear to exist.[citation needed]
In 1892 Werefkin entered into a 27-year relationship withAlexej von Jawlensky. Werefkin was more advanced in painting than Jawlensky was and had decided to train and support the penniless military officer who was five years her junior.[citation needed]
In 1896, after the death of Werefkin's father, which would provide Werefkin with a noble Tsarist pension of 7,000 rubles per annum, she moved toMunich with her 11-year oldlady's maidHelene Nesnakomoff [de] and Jawlensky. Werefkin's annual pension at that time corresponded to around twenty-two thousandGerman mark. Werefkin's rather young 'lady's maid', Nesnakomoff, had come to the Werefkin's household at age 9, after the death of the child's stepfather who was a local police officer, leaving the mother, who drank heavily, with three children as a beggar. Werefkin's father allowed Helene to come into the household. Her sister, Marie, was placed in a girls' asylum, and her brother stayed with his mother and was a thief […] who could not be changed. Since the mother was unreliable, Werefkin's administrator advised that the mother cede all her child care rights to Werefkin, which she did. Despite Nesnakomoff's tragic circumstance, in return for the warmth and sustenance, she had to earn her keep as an apprentice to Werefkin's [then] lady's maid in Tula.[citation needed]
In Munich, Werefkin rented a comfortable double apartment on the third floor ofGiselastrasse 23 in theSchwabing district, which she furnished partly withEmpire andBiedermeier style furniture, which she contrasted with folk art furniture made in the workshops of the artistYelena Polenova (1850-1898) in the artists' colony ofAbramtsevo. Werefkin initially entrusted Jawlensky's further education to the SlovenianAnton Ažbe, while interrupting her own painting for exactly ten years in favour of his education. Like many women in art, she subordinated her artistic ambitions to the interests of her lover.[citation needed]
Werefkin knew that Jawlensky was a womanizer: "Love is a dangerous thing, especially in the hands of Jawlensky."[citation needed] Werefkin refused to marry, not least because of the generous pension from the Tsar, which she would have lost if she were a married woman. But Werefkin was determined to support Jawlensky as an artist in every way. In Werefkin's place, Jawlensky was to achieve and realize everything artistically that a 'weak woman' was in any case denied.[citation needed]
“Three years passed in tireless nurturing of his mind and heart. Everything, everything he received from me, I pretended to take - everything I put into him I pretended to receive as a gift... so that he should not be jealous as an artist, I hid my art from him" (Werefkin, quoted from Fäthke 1980:17). Jawlensky's gratitude in return was abusing Werefkin's young lady's maid, with whom Jawlensky was already having a relationship, despite her young age, she modelled for Jawlensky and was madly infatuated with him.[citation needed]
In 1897, Werefkin founded the Brotherhood of St. Luke (Bruderschaft von Sankt Lukas) in her "pink salon", whose members saw themselves in the tradition of theGuild of Saint Luke and which ultimately formed the nucleus of theNew Artists' Association Munich (N.K.V.M) andThe Blue Rider.[2]
In 1897 Werefkin was in Venice with Ažbe, Jawlensky,Dmitry Kardovsky andIgor Grabar, initially to visit a Repin exhibition. They then studied the painting of old masters in various museums in northern Italy.[citation needed]
In 1902 Werefkin's lady's maid Nesnakomoff, then 17 years old, gave birth to a child from Jawlensky, named Andreas Nesnakomoff (died 1984 - namedAndreas Jawlensky [de] after his parents' marriage, later in life he would also become a known artist), at the time of the birth both Nesnakomoff and Jawlensky had returned for more than one year to Russia. In November 1902 Werefkin began writing herLettres à un Inconnu (Letters to an Unknown) as a kind of diary, which she finished in 1906. A year later she went to Normandy with the Russian painterAlexander von Salzmann [de], while Jawlensky stayed in Munich. Jawlensky's paintingDie Werefkin im Profil [de] (The Werefkin in profile) was created around 1905.[citation needed]
In 1906 Werefkin travelled to France with Jawlensky, Nesnakomoff and son Andreas. First, they went to Brittany. From there Werefkin went via Paris and Arles toSausset-les-Pins near Marseille, where her painter friendPierre Girieud (1876–1948) lived. There, on the Mediterranean, Werefkin resumed her artistic activity.[citation needed]
In 1907, Werefkin created her first expressionist paintings. Stylistically, Werefkin followed the theories ofVincent van Gogh,Paul Gauguin's surface painting,Louis Anquetin's tone-on-tone painting,Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's caricature and bold painting, and the ideas ofLes Nabis. In the circle of friends in Munich, Werefkin was given the nickname "The Frenchwoman". In terms of iconology and motifs, Werefkin often drew on the works ofEdvard Munch, and she brought the aforementioned artists into the picture before her colleagues, such asWassily Kandinsky andGabriele Münter, who took the first steps towards Expressionism. At that time, the artistsJan Verkade,Hugo Troendle,Hermann Huber andCurt Herrmann frequented Werefkin's salon.[citation needed]
In the spring of 1908, Gauguin's Polish friend,Władysław Ślewiński, visited Werefkin. He convinced Jawlensky of surface painting. In the summer, the two artist couples Werefkin/Jawlensky and Münter/Kandinsky met inMurnau am Staffelsee in Upper Bavaria to paint together. In the winter of the same year, Werefkin, Jawlensky,Adolf Erbslöh andOscar Wittenstein [de] came up with the idea of founding theN.K.V.M., of which Kandinsky was appointed its first chairman in 1909. The dancerAlexander Sacharoff became a member of the N.K.V.M. With Werefkin and Jawlensky he prepared his big performance at theOdeon in Munich.
In 1909 the Swiss painterCuno Amiet, who at the time belonged to theBrücke (Bridge) artists' group, was a guest in Werefkin's salon. Amiet would later become one of Werefkin's best Swiss friends alongsidePaul Klee and his wife Lily. On 1 December 1909 was the opening of the first exhibition of the N.K.V.M. with 16 artists. Werefkin exhibited six paintings, includingSchuhplattler, her commitment to Bavarian folk art. In 1909 the paintingZwillinge (Werefkin) [de] (Twins) was created.
Shortly thereafter, Werefkin went toLithuania to her brother Peter (1861-1946), who was governor inKaunas. Many drawings and quite a few paintings were made there that winter.
At the end of September 1910,Franz Marc made contact with the artists of the N.K.V.M. We learn from him that it was primarily Werefkin and Jawlensky who opened his eyes to a new art form.
From the beginning of May 1911,Pierre Girieud (1876–1948) lived with Werefkin and Jawlensky onGiselastrasse 23 when he and Marc showed his paintings in an exhibition at the Modern GalleryHeinrich Thannhauser. In the summer, Werefkin travelled with Jawlensky toPrerow on theBaltic Sea. At the end of the year, they went to Paris, where they metHenri Matisse personally.
In December 1911, Kandinsky left the N.K.V.M., together with Münter and Marc, to present the first exhibition of the editors ofDer Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) in the winter of 1911/1912. In 1912, Werefkin and Jewlensky also left the N.K.V.M., which not until 1920 was officially removed from the Munich Register of Associations. Werefkin also exhibited with the members of the N.K.V.M. and the Blue Rider together with the artists of the Bridge from 18 November 1911 to 31 January 31, 1912 in theNew Secession in Berlin. Werefkin exhibited there her paintingSchlittschuhläufer (Ice Skaters).[citation needed]
In 1913, Werefkin and Jawlensky participated in the exhibition of the editors ofDer Blaue Reiter in the Berlin galleryDer Sturm (The Storm) byHerwarth Walden. In the same year, Werefkin intended the final separation from Jawlensky and travelled toVilnius in Lithuania, where her brother Peter had meanwhile become governor. At the end of July 1914, Werefkin returned to Germany from Lithuania. She arrived in Munich on 26 July.[citation needed]
WhenWorld War I broke out on 1 August 1914, Werefkin and Jawlensky had to leave Germany within 24 hours and fled to Switzerland with the service staff Helene Nesnakomoff with son Andreas, and Helene's sister Maria Nesnakomoff, who had earlier joined the household service. Werefkin handed over the keys and custodian of her apartment toPaul Klee and his wife Lily before fleeing to Switzerland. At first, they lived inSaint-Prex onLake Geneva. As a result of the war, Werefkin's pension was cut in half. In 1916 there was a solo exhibition inZürich, where the couple moved in September/October 1917.[citation needed]
As a result of the RussianOctober Revolution, Werefkin lost her Tsarist pension. Participation inCabaret Voltaire followed after Werefkin had met its initiators. In 1918 Werefkin and Jawlensky moved toAscona onLake Maggiore. In 1919 Werefkin was involved in an exhibition "Painters of Ascona" in the ZürichKunstsalon Wolfsberg [de] together with Jawlensky,Robert Genin,Arthur Segal andOtto Niemeyer-Holstein. In 1920 some of Werefkin's works were shown at the VeniceBiennale. Werefkin always lived in Switzerland as a stateless person, issued with aNansen passport since 1922.[citation needed]
In 1921 Jawlensky separated from Werefkin and moved toWiesbaden, where in 1922 he married Werefkin's housekeeper Helene Nesnakomoff, the mother of his son Andreas. During this difficult time, Werefkin became friends with the Zürich painterWilly Fries and his wife Katharina, née Righini (1894–1973). In 12 letters to Zürich between 1921 and 1925, Werefkin described her desperate situation, which, however, could not break her courage and her ability to work.[citation needed]
In 1924 Werefkin was a co-founder of the artist groupDer Große Bär (The Great Bear, after the constellationUrsa Major) in Ascona together withWalter Helbig,Ernst Frick,Albert Kohler and others. This group of artists had a large exhibition in 1925 in theKunsthalle Bern, followed by further joint exhibitions, including in 1928 in the BerlinGalerie Nierendorf together withChristian Rohlfs,Karl Schmidt-Rottluff andRobert Genin.[citation needed]
Frequently, Werefkin earned her living by painting posters and picture postcards or she wrote articles, for example in 1925 for theNeue Zürcher Zeitung, in which her impressions of a trip to Italy withErnst Alfred Aye [de] were subsequently printed.
In 1928, Werefkin wrote and painted her Ascona Impressions, which she dedicated to the Zürich art critic Hans Trog (1864–1928). In the same year, she met Diego Hagmann (1894-1986) and his wife Carmen (1905-2001), who saved her from greater economic hardship. In the last two years before the First World War in Munich, stylistic changes in Werefkin's pictures, which lead to her late work, had already become noticeable, but she continued to develop them in Switzerland. Her paintings no longer triggered the sudden 'shocks' in the viewer in the same way as they used to. Her works generally became more narrative, internalized and even more enigmatic than before. Writers in particular were attracted to them, encouraged to interpret and create their own, such as the poetYvan Goll or the poetBruno Goetz.[citation needed]
The typical Russian features in Werefkin's painting, especially in the colouring, which the poetElse Lasker-Schüler had already noticed in Munich, should appear particularly clear in her late work in Ascona. Even if she transferred these to Ticino motifs, Werefkin's pictures were initially foreign to most Swiss and were often misunderstood.[citation needed]
When Werefkin died in Ascona on 6 February 1938, she was buried in the local cemetery according to the Russian Orthodox rite, with the sympathy of almost the entire population.[citation needed]
A large part of her artistic and literary legacy is kept in theFondazione Marianne Werefkin in Ascona [de] inAscona. Thanks to donations, their holdings have now grown to almost 100 paintings. The foundation also owns 170 sketchbooks and hundreds of drawings. A part of it is presented in the permanent collection of theMuseo communale d'arte moderna in Ascona.[citation needed]
The artist is the namesake of the "Marianne-Werefkin-Preis [de]", which has been awarded by theVerein der Berliner Künstlerinnen (Association of Berlin Artists) to contemporary female artists every two years.
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Quoted from: "Marianne von Werefkin in Murnau - Kunst und Theorie, Vorbilder und Künstlerfreunde", Katalog einer Sonderausstellung im SchloßmuseumMurnau, bearbeitet von Brigitte Salmen.
