Frosty Day

Created in 1915, Frosty Day was likely consigned to Emmy Scheyer (later known as Galka E. Scheyer) in Hollywood around 1924, based on information from the artist's family catalogue raisonné. The work probably returned to Alexej von Jawlensky in 1928 before being consigned again to Scheyer in 1933. Following a compulsory sale by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Alien Property in Los Angeles in 1954, where it was listed as lot 8, number 54, the painting entered the Paul Kantor Gallery.

It subsequently passed through the Kleemann Galleries in New York, evidenced by a label on the reverse, before entering the collection of Benjamin and Lilian Hertzberg. The Hertzbergs held the work until their bequest transferred ownership to the National Gallery of Art in 2004.

Alexej von Jawlensky's Frosty Day (1915) is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it was accessioned in 2004 following a bequest from Benjamin and Lilian Hertzberg. The work's provenance traces back to its consignment to Emmy Scheyer (later Galka E. Scheyer) around 1924, a period during which it was likely returned to the artist before being consigned again in 1933. In 1954, the painting was sold as part of a compulsory sale by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Alien Property in Los Angeles, identified as lot 8, number 54.

Subsequent ownership included the Paul Kantor Gallery in Los Angeles and Kleemann Galleries in New York before reaching the Hertzberg collection.

The painting Frosty Day (1915) by Alexej von Jawlensky entered a significant institutional provenance path, moving from consignment to Emmy Scheyer in 1924 through subsequent transfers including a compulsory sale by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1954 before its acquisition by the National Gallery of Art in 2004 via bequest from Benjamin and Lilian Hertzberg. Its legacy is anchored by inclusion in major Jawlensky scholarship, specifically cited in Maria Jawlensky, Lucia Pieroni-Jawlensky, and Angelica Jawlensky's 1992 Catalogue Raisonné as work no. 664, and it remains part of the National Gallery of Art's permanent collection in Washington, D.C.

Frosty Day is an oil painting on canvas board executed by Alexej von Jawlensky in 1915. The work presents a stark winter landscape rendered in a limited palette, with a solitary, leaf‑less tree on the left, a pale sky, and a snow‑covered ground. A vivid red form hovers above the scene, providing a contrasting focal point.

Created during the tumult of World War I, the painting reflects the artist’s turn toward more abstracted, emotionally charged landscapes. While retaining recognizable elements, Jawlensky reduces forms to essential shapes and colors, aligning the work with early modernist tendencies that favored personal expression over detailed naturalism.