Mathias Ussing Seeberg

Influenced by Byzantine art, Fauvism and German Expressionism, Jawlensky explored color, religious iconography and portraiture in his masterful serial paintings Russian German painter Alexej Jawlensky (1864–1941) found his own artistic voice late in life. He was part of the revitalization of painting in the early 20th century, developing his Expressionist style through exchanges with the Fauves in Paris and his peers in Germany, including friends in and around Der Blaue Reiter. Until arthritis ended his ability to paint, Jawlensky explored color, religious iconography and portraiture in his masterful serial paintings. HIs last series of works, Meditations, comprises more than 1,000 paintings: modest in format, yet sensational. These paintings, which he described as "prayers in color," became an artistic redemption for Jawlensky, who throughout his life sought to connect his spiritual reflections with his painting. Featuring a clothbound spine, this small, slender and appealing volume features essays on Jawlensky's unique artistic projects, as well as an encyclopedia of his life and work.

A multipronged analysis of the Dominican American artist’s cartographic palimpsests In her monumental paintings and installations, the Dominican American artist Firelei Báez (born 1981) creates images bursting with symbols from folktales, colonial occupation, legendary creatures and revolutions. She paints images on top of maps, book pages and found ephemera that combine abstraction and figuration, personal perspectives with grand historical narratives and Caribbean mythology with science fiction. This colorful publication serves as an introduction to Báez’s work. The artist discusses how she interrogates powerful concepts such as truth and history throughout her practice. Special attention is paid to her “palimpsests,” paintings on top of colonial maps or construction plans for colonial architecture, both of which represent the establishment’s notion of objectivity. Inspired by Báez’s works, poet Warsan Shire and author Katrine Rasmussen Kielsen contribute texts considering the legacy of colonialism.