Masterworks

Alexej von Jawlensky was born in Russia in 1864 and went to live in Munich in 1896. In the early years of the twentieth century Jawlensky formed part of a circle of avant-garde painters who collected around another Russian émigré, Kandinsky. But, unlike Kandinsky whose imagination and intellect were wide-ranging, Jawlensky concentrated for most of his life on a single theme - the human face.

Animals are the hallmark of one twentieth century painter; above any other - the German artist Franz Marc. In the Lenbachhaus in Munich hangs one of the finest of them - 'The Tiger,' which he painted in 1912, when he was 32. It's not a tiger such as any Romantic artist of the nineteenth century would have painted; not a hunting trophy, nor a beast in a zoo.

"Village Street in Winter" is a painting from the year 1911. In other words, contemporary with the most geometrical phase of Cubism in France - Picasso and Braque. An awareness of Cubism is clearly reflected in this picture, the absence of perspective, shapes reduced to simple blocks, colours simplified to match.

''Franz von Stuck's painting of 'Salome' in the ecstasy of dance, is typical of the erotic image-making which made him the most famous artist of his day. She dances for Herod who is, so to speak, us - the spectators. We are the witnesses of her dance, and of its terrible consequence, the death of John the Baptist..."