MASTER DRAWINGS NEW YORK 2020 - January 24th through February 29th 2020 SHEPHERD W&K - The ...
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MASTER DRAWINGS
NEW YORK 2020
January 24th through February 29th 2020
SHEPHERD
W&K
GALLERIES
58 East 79th Street
New York, N. Y. 10075
Tel: 1 212 861 4050
Fax: 1 212 772 1314
ShepherdNY@aol.com
www.shepherdgallery.com
GÜNTER BRUS
* 1938 Ardning in der Steiermark
DAS WILD REMINISZENZ ("THE GAME REMINISCENCE") , 1975
Pencil and colored pencil on paper, 11.7 x 8.3 inch (297 x 210 mm)
titled, signed and dated
Provenance
Collection of H.R. Giger, Switzerland;
Galerie Kunst & Handel, Graz;
Private collection, Austria.
Exhibition
- Günter Brus. The Loneliness of the Late Classical Artist, W&K - Palais Schönborn-Batthyany, Vienna 25.09.-22.11.2019.
Literature
- Wienerroither/Kohlbacher/Grabner, Günter Brus. The Loneliness of the Late Classical Artist, W&K - Palais Schönborn-Batthyany
(ed.), Vienna 2019, p. 109 (ill.).
GÜNTER BRUS
* 1938 Ardning in der Steiermark
DIE ELEFANTENDUSCHE ("THE ELEPHANT SHOWER") , 25.4.1975/6
Coloured crayon on paper, 10.8 x 8.3 inch (275 x 210 mm)
signed and dated on upper right
Provenance
Institutional collection, Vienna.
Exhibition
- Günter Brus. The Loneliness of the Late Classical Artist, W&K - Palais Schönborn-Batthyany, Vienna 25.09.-22.11.2019.
Literature
- Wienerroither/Kohlbacher/Grabner, Günter Brus. The Loneliness of the Late Classical Artist, W&K - Palais Schönborn-Batthyany
(ed.), Vienna 2019, p. 107 (ill.).
GÜNTER BRUS
* 1938 Ardning in der Steiermark
MENSCHENREISSVERSCHLUSS, STATISTISCH ("HUMAN ZIPPER, STATISTICAL") , 1998
Pencil, colored pencil and collage on paper, 15.4 x 11.8 inch (390 x 300 mm)
Inscribed, signed and dated: Menschenreissverschluss, Statistisch G Brus 98
Interpretation
Brus’ striking drawings are marked by creations in form, which often emerge
from syntheses between body and machine, humans and animals, or extremities and objects. He continually expands the drawing
repertoire and alphabet of bodies available to him, in order to depict his half-conceived, half-intuited images.
Roman Grabner
Provenance
Private collection, Vienna.
Exhibition
- Günter Brus. The Loneliness of the Late Classical Artist, W&K - Palais Schönborn-Batthyany, Vienna 25.09.-22.11.2019.
Literature
- Wienerroither/Kohlbacher/Grabner, Günter Brus. The Loneliness of the Late Classical Artist, W&K - Palais Schönborn-Batthyany
(ed.), Vienna 2019, p. 173 (ill.).
23.01.2020 • Seite 4
FEININGER, LYONEL 1871 - 1956 German-American School YACHT, 1938 Ink and watercolor on paper. 10 1/2” x 13 1/4” (26.7 x 33.7 cm). Signed in black ink lower left: Feininger. Dated in black ink lower right: 14. 7. 38.
FEININGER, LYONEL 1871 - 1956 German-American School LOCOMOTIVE, 1942 Ink and watercolor on paper. 6 ¾” x 11” (17.1 x 28 cm). Signed in black ink lower left: Feininger. Dated in black ink lower right: 28. IX. 42. On verso: inscribed in black ink lower left: To Lux with love from Father.
FUCHS, Ernst 1930 – 2015 Austrian School THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY, 1949 Egg tempera and oil mixed with resin. 29 1/2” x 42 1/8” (75 x 107 cm). Signed and dated lower left: Fuchs Ernst/49. Provenance: From the artist to Manfred Mautner-Markhof; Private collection, Vienna. Note: The Vienna School of Fantastic Realism formed in 1946 included Ernst Fuchs, Rudolph Hausner, Wolfgang Hutter, and Fritz Janschka. Arik Brauer and Anton Lemden were all visionaries, born of the jagged ruins of post-war Vienna. The group saw itself as Surrealist although they were already moving away from the Surrealist painting of the 1930s towards a more visionary approach. Technically their work had the clarity and detail of early Flemish painting. The present painting, The Temptation of St. Anthony, is dated 1949. Already baptized during the war, Fuchs converted to Roman Catholicism in 1956. Between 1950 and 1961, Fuchs lived mostly in Paris, and made a number of journeys to the United States and Israel. His favorite reading material at the time was the sermons of Meister Eckhart. He also studied the symbolism of the alchemists and read Jung’s Psychology and Alchemy. In 1958, he founded the Galerie Fuchs-Fischoff in Vienna to promote and support the younger painters of the Fantastic Realism school. Together with Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Arnulf Rainer, he founded the Pintorarium.
GEORGE GROSZ
1893 - Berlin - 1959
NACHTS ("AT NIGHT") , 1926
Watercolor and pen and ink drawing on firm, grainy watercolor paper, 23.7 x 18.8 inch (60.3 x 47.8 cm)
Signed in pencil Grosz lower right. Numbered No 33 and titled Nachts lower left
With a photo-certificate and expert report from Ralph Jentsch, Berlin/Rome, dated March 26, 2011.
This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works on paper by George Grosz.
Interpretation
Grosz’ painted his watercolors of Berlin street scenes primarily between 1925 and 1932 and they make up an important part of his
oeuvre. Grosz sees the metropolis as a panopticon populated by very different and contrasting people. He often depicts strolling
couples or the coincidental meeting of young and old, usually showing an aging man lustfully staring at a young girl or a well-
dressed business man on his way to the office or on a shopping spree. Stylishly dressed pedestrians contrast with haggard beggars
who go unnoticed. Grosz’ hunting ground was mostly along the busy parts of Friedrichstraße, Kurfürstendamm and
Tauentzienstraße, where all the facets of city life could be freely observed: poverty and affluence, misery and greed, the unrelenting
flaunting of love for sale, embodied by well-dressed prostitutes on the lookout for customers in broad daylight. Grosz not only
keenly observed these scenes –every figure captured here is characterized by fitting attributes - he also expertly composed them.
What appears to be a chance arrangement in these pictures - the positioning of figures, the arrangement of architectural motifs
such as house facades and shop window decorations – is actually carefully selected.
Grosz opted for twilight as a time setting for this large-format watercolor. An elegantly dressed prostitute has managed to pick up
an old man who, despite his age and feeble appearance, probably did not wander into the red light district accidently. In 1926
Grosz gave 36 works on paper on commission to the “Galerie Neue Kunst Fides” in Dresden, including this watercolor.
Ralph Jentsch
Provenance
Artist’s studio, Berlin, 1926;
Gallery Neue Kunst Fides, Dresden, 1926;
Raphael Soyer, New York;
Forum Gallery, New York;
Private Collection, Vienna.
23.01.2020 • Seite 7GEORGE GROSZ 1893 - Berlin - 1959 LADY HAMILTON , c. 1930 Indian ink on paper, 22 x 17.3 inch (560 x 440 mm) Signed (lower right): Grosz Provenance Private collection, Austria. Exhibition - Aging Pride, Lower Belvedere, Vienna 17.11.2017-11.03.2018. Literature - Rolling/Fellner (edt.), Die Kraft des Alters/Aging Pride, exh. cat., Lower Belvedere, Vienna, 2017, ill. p. 17.
Note: Lady Hamilton or the Posturing of Emma or From Housemaid to Beefsteak a La Nelson. A fantastic and romantic travesty by Alfred Richard Meyer. Most industriously fleshed out by George Grosz was published by Fritz Gurlitt, Berlin, 1923. Alfred Meyer’s account of Emma, Lady Hamilton and her escapades was illustrated by George Grosz, reflecting the night life of the Weimar-era speakeasies and clubs. His illustrations chronicled the erotic side of Lord Nelson and Emma’s affair, which British writers often underplayed.
HOFFMANN, Josef (1870-1956) Austrian School FLORAL DESIGN Ink on off-white wove paper. 11 ½” x 8 ¼” (29.2 x 21 cm). No watermark. Ink monogram on lower left: J H. Inscribed in graphite on backing: ④ Josef Hoffmann 275 x 195, with arrows to reverse the measurements. Collection of Johannes Spalt (1920–2010), Vienna.
Note: After studying architecture at the Vienna Academy under Karl von Hasenauer and Otto Wagner, Josef Hoffmann became one of the most prolific and influential architects and designers of the early 20th century. He was professor at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts), Vienna, where he taught architecture, metalwork, enameling, and applied art from 1899 to 1936. Many of Hoffmann’s designs were produced for the Wiener Werkstätte, which he founded along with Kolo Moser and industrialist Friedrich(“Fritz”) Waerndorfer. The simplicity of design and curvilinear forms seen in the present drawing may date to the early years of the 20th century when many artists and designers, particularly in Vienna, were still under the stylistic influence of Art Nouveau. Designs such as these were often multi-purposed, used for various decorative arts projects for the Wiener Werkstätte, including etched glassworks, end papers, screens etc…
HOFFMANN, Josef (1870-1956) Austrian School FLORAL DESIGN Ink on off-white wove paper. 11 ½” x 8 ¼” (29.2 x 21 cm). No watermark. Ink monogram on lower right: J H. Inscribed in graphite on backing: ② Josef Hoffmann 275 x 195, with arrows to reverse the measurements. Collection of Johannes Spalt (1920–2010), Vienna.
HOFFMANN, Josef (1870-1956) Austrian School FLORAL DESIGN Graphite on off-white wove paper. 11 ½” x 8 ¼” (29.2 x 21 cm). No watermark. Ink monogram on lower left: J H. Inscribed in graphite on backing: ① Josef Hoffmann 275 x 195, with arrows to reverse the measurements. Inscribed in ink: ⑧. Collection of Johannes Spalt (1920–2010), Vienna.
HOFFMANN, Josef (1870-1956) Austrian School FLORAL DESIGN Graphite on off-white wove paper. 11 ½” x 8 ¼” (29.2 x 21 cm). Watermark with 3 stars. Monogram in bottom center: J H. Inscribed in graphite on backing: Josef Hoffmann 275 x 195 Spalt. Collection of Johannes Spalt (1920–2010), Vienna.
HOFFMANN, Josef (1870-1956) Austrian School FLORAL DESIGN Ink on off-white wove paper. 11 ½” x 8 ¼” (29.2 x 21 cm). Watermark with 3 stars. Monogram in lower left: J H. Inscribed in graphite on backing: Josef Hoffmann 275 x 195 Spalt. Collection of Johannes Spalt (1920–2010), Vienna.
GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 ANGEL HOLDING A MIRROR, AND CHILD DRESSED AS A WOMAN , 1881-82 Pen and wash on paper, 2.9 x 6.2 inch (73 x 157 mm) signed at lower right: G KLIMT. Verso: Estate Stamp (Sammlung R. Zimpel) Strobl Cat. rais. no. 43 Provenance Christian M. Nebehay Collection, Vienna. Exhibition - Gustav Klimt / 150 bedeutende Zeichnungen, Kunsthandlung & Antiquariät Christian M. Nebehay, Vienna 1962, cat. no. 5. - Gustav Klimt, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich 1992, cat. no. Z 2a. Literature - Gustav Klimt / 150 bedeutende Zeichnungen, exh. cat. no. V. ed. Christian M. Nebehay, 1962 Vienna, cat. no. 5 (illus.). - Fritz Novotny and Johannes Dobai, Gustav Klimt, Salzburg 1967, p. 379 as 1876 (illus. 4). - Alice Strobl, Die Zeichnungen. I: 1878-1903, Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1980, Cat. rais. no. 43. - Gustav Klimt, exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich 1992, cat. no. Z 2a (illus.). - Novotny-Dobai, p. 379, no. 1876 (note 4). - Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Gustav Klimt. Drawings. Wienerroither & Kohlbacher (Edt.), Vienna 2018, cat. no. 1.
GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 ANGEL HOLDING A MIRROR, AND CHILD DRESSED AS A WOMAN , 1881-82 Pencil, pen and wash on paper, 3.5 x 8.1 inch (88 x 207 mm) inscribed on plate "Mode", small ornament on left margin verso: Estate stamp (Sammlung R. Zimpel) Strobl Cat. rais. no. 44 Provenance Christian M. Nebehay Collection, Vienna. Literature - Christian M. Nebehay, Klimt Dokumentation, 1969, no. 9 (illus.). - Alice Strobl, Die Zeichnungen. I: 1878-1903, Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1980, Cat. rais. no. 44. - Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Gustav Klimt. Drawings. Wienerroither & Kohlbacher (Edt.), Vienna 2018, cat. no. 2.
GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 STUDIES FOR "TIMES OF THE DAY" (DIE TAGESZEITEN) , 1881 Pencil, pen and brown ink on paper, 17.5 x 16.3 inch (445 x 415 mm) inscribed: Girardi Verso: Study for the reclining figure of "Nacht" Estate Stamp (Sammlung R. Zimpel) on both papers Strobl Cat. rais. no. 41 Provenance Christian M. Nebehay Collection, Vienna; W&K - Wienerroither & Kohlbacher, Vienna (2017). Literature Christian M. Nebehay, Klimt Dokumentation, 1969, cat. no. 84. (illus.) - Alice Strobl, Die Zeichnungen. I: 1878-1903, Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1980, cat. rais. no. 41. - Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Gustav Klimt. Drawings. Wienerroither & Kohlbacher (Edt.), Vienna, 2018, Kat. Nr. 3.
GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 DESIGN FOR THE FINAL COMPOSITION DRAWING FOR THE ALLEGORY OF OPERA , 1883 Pencil on Paper, 20.9 x 15 inch (530 x 380 mm) Signed on upper left corner: G KLIMT verso: ten different studies in black chalk, including four drafts for an overdoor, Profile of a woman facing left, Portrait of a lady in profile facing left inscribed on bottom in pencil: "Mirzl und Dreher 1884 / 1884 / ehe (?) Gustav Klimt / Karoline Holdefreund (?) Lieber Hans" and "ich", "333333 3489 33" estate stamp (Sammlung R. Zimpel) Strobl Cat. rais. no. 69 Provenance Christian M. Nebehay Collection, Vienna. Exhibition
- Gustav Klimt. Eine Nachlese. 70 bedeutende Zeichnungen, Kunsthandlung & Antiquariät Christian M. Nebehay, Vienna 1963, cat.
no. 6.
- 3. Internationale der Zeichnung, Triumph des Genies: Gustav Klimt und Henri Matisse, Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt 1970, cat. no. 12.
- Experiment Weltuntergang. Wien um 1900, Hamburger Kunsthalle 1981.
Literature
- Gustav Klimt. Eine Nachlese. 70 bedeutende Zeichnungen, exh. cat. no. VI. ed. Christian M. Nebehay, 1963 Vienna, cat. no. 6.
- Fritz Novotny and Johannes Dobai, Gustav Klimt, Salzburg 1967, p. 380.
- Christian M. Nebehay, Gustav Klimt Dokumentation, Vienna 1969, cat. no. 102.
- 3. Internationale der Zeichnung,Triumph des Genies: Gustav Klimt und Henri Matisse, exh. cat. Darmstadt, Mathildenhöhe 1970,
cat. no. 12 (illus.).
- Alice Strobl, Die Zeichnungen. I: 1878-1903, Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1980, Cat. rais. no. 69.
- Experiment Weltuntergang. Wien um 1900, exh. cat. Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg 1981, cat. no. 11 ("Heilige Cäcilie –
Allegorie der Oper") (illus.).
- Christian M. Nebehay, Gustav Klimt. Von der Zeichnung zum Bild, Vienna 1992, p. 23, cat. no. 17 (illus.).
- Barbara Sternthal, Gustav Klimt. Mythos und Wahrheit, 2006, p. 8 (illus.).
- Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Gustav Klimt. Drawings. Wienerroither & Kohlbacher (Edt.), Vienna 2018, cat. no. 4.
23.01.2020 • Seite 11GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 STUDIES FOR GIRL SEEN IN THE BACKGROUND OF DANCE, PAINTED FOR THE CEILING OF THE THEATRE IN KARLSBAD , 1885 Black chalk with white chalk heightening on paper, 17.7 x 12.4 inch (450 x 314 mm) Verso inscribed with number "2058" Estate stamp (Sammlung R. Zimpel) Strobl Cat. rais. no. 140 Provenance Christian M. Nebehay Collection, Vienna. Exhibition - Gustav Klimt. Eine Nachlese. 70 bedeutende Zeichnungen, Kunsthandlung & Antiquariat Christian M. Nebehay, Vienna 1963. - Gustav Klimt - Egon Schiele. Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, Albertina, Vienna 05.04.-16.06.1968. Literature - Christian M. Nebehay (ed.), Gustav Klimt. Eine Nachlese. 70 bedeutende Zeichnungen, exh. cat. no. VI., Kunsthandlung & Antiquariät Christian M. Nebehay, Vienna 1963, cat. no. 4 (illus.).
- Fritz Novotny and Johannes Dobai, Gustav Klimt, Salzburg 1967, p. 286.
- Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Gustav Klimt - Egon Schiele. Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, exh.cat. Albertina, Vienna 1968, cat.
no. 3.
- Christian M. Nebehay, Gustav Klimt. Dokumentation, Vienna 1969, p. 98 (illus.).
- Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen 1878-1903, vol. I, Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1980, Cat. rais. no. 140.
- Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Gustav Klimt. Drawings, Wienerroither & Kohlbacher (edt.), Vienna 2018, cat. no. 7.
23.01.2020 • Seite 29GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 HAND OF A VIOLINIST, STUDIES FOR THE PAINTED CEILING OF THE THEATRE IN KARLSBAD , 1885 black chalk with white chalk heightening on paper, 17.7 x 12.2 inch (450 x 310 mm) Strobl Cat. rais. no. 138 Provenance R. Zimpel Collection; Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles c. 1950-55; Felix Landau Collection. Exhibition - Gustav Klimt. 150 bedeutende Zeichnungen, Kunsthandlung & Antiquariät Christian M. Nebehay, Vienna 1962. Literature - Christian M. Nebehay, Gustav Klimt. 150 bedeutende Zeichnungen, exh.cat. no. V., Kunsthandlung & Antiquariät Christian M. Nebehay, Vienna 1962, cat. no. 1.
- Fritz Novotny and Johannes Dobai, Gustav Klimt, Salzburg 1967, p. 286.
- Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen 1878-1903, vol. I, Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1980, Cat. rais. no. 138.
- Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Gustav Klimt. Drawings, Wienerroither & Kohlbacher (edt.), Vienna 2018, cat. no. 5.
23.01.2020 • Seite 35GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 TRACING FOR ORNAMENTAL BORDER OF THE PUBLIC EULOGY ADDRESSED TO KARL VON HASENAUER , 1888-89 Pencil on tracing paper, 15.7 x 11.8 inch (400 x 300 mm) Strobl Cat. rais. no. 228 Provenance Christian M. Nebehay Collection, Vienna. Exhibition - Gustav Klimt. Eine Nachlese. 70 bedeutende Zeichnungen, Kunsthandlung & Antiquariat Christian M. Nebehay, Vienna 1963. Literature - Christian M. Nebehay (ed.), Gustav Klimt. Eine Nachlese. 70 bedeutende Zeichnungen, exh. cat. no. VI., Kunsthandlung & Antiquariät Christian M. Nebehay, Vienna 1963, cat. no. 1 (illus.). - Fritz Novotny and Johannes Dobai, Gustav Klimt, Salzburg 1967 p. 381. - Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen 1878-1903, vol. I, Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1980, Cat. rais. no. 228.
- Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Gustav Klimt. Drawings, Wienerroither & Kohlbacher (edt.), Vienna 2018, cat. no. 8.
23.01.2020 • Seite 21GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 FEMALE FIGURE IN A LONG GOWN, STUDY FOR "SACRED AND PROFANE MUSIC" , 1896 Black crayon on paper, 17.6 x 12.5 inch (44.6 x 31.8 cm) Verso: Study of a seated clothed figure Inscribed on the verso: Nachlaß meines Bruders Gustav. Hermine Klimt Strobl Cat. rais. no. 285 Interpretation As Alice Strobl discovered, this delicate study of a woman in classical dress and playing music was a preparatory work for an 1896 allegory of secular and sacred music. This watercolour was originally in the Albertina but was lost after 1920 together with two relevant sketches and there are no known illustrations of these works.1 However, a series of small sketches on the verso of several figure studies demonstrates Klimt’s thoughts about these two personifications.2 Secular music appears as a classical, robed figure playing a cithara, while a frontal figure crowned by a halo embodies sacred music. In this study, Klimt is concentrating on the hands playing music and the introverted sidelong gaze; only the outlines of the instrument are indicated. One of the characteristics of this Symbolist phase in his work is the magical way in which the figure shines out against the dark hatched background. In contrast to his innovative allegories Junius and Skulptur, both also drawn for the series Allegorien, Neue Folge in 1896, the missing work Secular and Sacred Music was never published. Klimt explored the subject of a figure playing the cithara on a number of occasions,
leading up to ‘Poetry’ in the Beethoven Frieze (1901–02).
Marian Bisanz Prakken (translated by Rebecca Law)
1) Strobl, vol. I, p. 92; the three sheets are listed in the inventory of works removed from the Albertina and transferred to
Archduke Friedrich in 1920.
2) Ibid., nos. 282a–283.
Provenance
Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York;
Shepherd Gallery, New York;
Galerie Ariadne, Vienna;
Private collection, Germany.
Exhibition
- Gustav Klimt, Galerie Arnoldi-Livie, Munich 1972, cat. no. 11.
Literature
- Gustav Klimt, Exh. cat., Galerie Arnoldi-Livie, Munich 1972, cat. no. 11.
- Gustav Klimt. One hundred drawings with an introduction by A. Werner, New York 1972, no. 6 (illus.).
- Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen. I: 1878-1903, Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1980, Cat. rais. no 285.
- Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Gustav Klimt. Drawings. Wienerroither & Kohlbacher (Edt.), Vienna 2018, cat. no. 9.
23.01.2020 • Seite 31GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 SKETCHES FOR "IRRLICHTER" , 1899-1900 black crayon on paper, 17.9 x 12.4 inch (455 x 315 mm) verso: Composition sketches with figure of nike and sketches with a female head, Stobl Cat. rais. no. 711 Strobl Cat. rais. nos. 685 and 711 Provenance Christian M. Nebehay Collection, Vienna. Exhibition - Gustav Klimt, Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle (Saale) 14.10.2018 - 06.01.2019. Literature - Christian M. Nebehay, Klimt Dokumentation, Vienna 1969, cat. nos. 241 and 242 (illus.). - Alice Strobl, Klimts "Irrlichter". Phantombild eines verschollenen Gemäldes. In: Klimt-Studien, Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Galerie, Jahrgang 22/23 1978/79, no. 66/67, p. 124 illus. no. 34 (verso).
- Alice Strobl, Die Zeichnungen. I: 1878-1903, Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1980, Cat. rais. nos. 685 and 711.
- Christian M. Nebehay, Gustav Klimt. Von der Zeichnung zum Bild, Vienna 1992, p. 278 cat. nos. 340 and 685.
- Rainer Metzger, Gustav Klimt. Das graphische Werk, Vienna 2005, p. 109 (illus.).
- Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Gustav Klimt. Drawings. Wienerroither & Kohlbacher (Edt.), Vienna 2018, cat. no. 14.
- Philipsen/Bauer-Friedrich/Büche (ed.), Gustav Klimt & Hugo Henneberg. Zwei Künstler der Wiener Sezession, exh. cat.
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle (Saale) 2018, p. 104, cat. no. 32.
23.01.2020 • Seite 24GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 WOMAN IN PROFILE FACING LEFT , 1904-05 Pencil and red crayon on paper, 21.7 x 13.6 inch Estate stamp at lower right Provenance Christian M. Nebehay Collection, Vienna Exhibition Gustav Klimt und Josef Hoffmann. Pioniere der Moderne, Belvedere, Vienna 2011-12 - 150 Jahre Gustav Klimt, Belvedere, Vienna 2012-13 – Secretly, Greatly, Eul Gallery, Daegu, South Korea 2018 This subtle portrait is a well-known example from a series of female profiles which Klimt drew from 1904 to 1905 based on various anonymous models. These aesthetic drawings cannot be linked with known painted portraits and were evidently drawn as works in themselves. What these differently dressed ladies have in common is the succinct precision of their profiles,
showing the visible eye either closed or half open – the works are centred around a sense of meditation. These faces’ introverted expressions were influenced particularly by the idealized figures of the Dutch Symbolist Jan Toorop, who from the late 1890s had a significant impact on Klimt’s work. Quattrocento Italian portraiture was a further source of inspiration. In this drawing we can clearly see the metallic precision with which Klimt used his pencil around 1904–05 – qualities which find echoes in the early paintings of the Golden Style. This was coupled with the artist’s interest in decorative microstructures like the small scrolling motifs on the garment and choker. This portrait reflects the rich differentiation in Klimt’s drawing in the uncompromising sharpness of the profile and other details on the face by comparison with the flowing, form-dissolving lines of the hair and clothes in the lower part of the picture. The only touch of colour is the subtle red of the closed lips. Marian Bisanz–Prakken Literature Christian M. Nebehay, Gustav-Klimt-Dokumentation, Vienna 1969, plate XIII. – Christian M. Nebehay, Gustav Klimt. Sein Leben nach zeitgenössischen Berichten und Quellen, Munich 1976, cat. no. 191 - Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen. II: 1904-1912, Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1982, cat.rais.no. 1279 - 150 Jahre Gustav Klimt exh.cat. eds. Agnes Husslein-Arco and Peter Weidender, Belvedere, Vienna 2012. p. 344. (illus.) - Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Gustav Klimt. Drawings/Zeichnungen, eds. Wienerroither & Kohlbacher, Vienna 2012, cat. no. 10. - Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Gustav Klimt. Drawings. Wienerroither & Kohlbacher (Edt.), Vienna, 2018, Kat. Nr. 25.
GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 SEATED NUDE CROUCHING ON A DAYBED , 1908/09 pencil on paper, 22.2 x 14.6 inch (56.5 x 37.2 cm) Estate stamp on lower left In December 2018 Dr. Marian Bisanz-Prakken examined this drawing in the original and confirmed that it is identical to Strobl no. 1861. Strobl Cat. rais. no. 1861 Provenance Privat collection, Italy (1974); Privat collection, Austria. Exhibition - Gustav Klimt, Klipstein & Kornfeld, Bern 30.11.1957–4.1.1958.
Literature
- Klipstein & Kornfeld, Gustav Klimt, stock catalogue 61, Bern 1957, no. 33.
- Novotny-Dobai, Gustav Klimt, Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1967, p. 357.
- Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen 1904–1912, vol 2, Salzburg 1982, Cat. rais. no 1861, pp. 208/209 (ill.). – there with
different measurements.
23.01.2020 • Seite 33GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 COMPOSITION SKETCHES FOR PORTRAIT OF EUGENIA PRIMAVESI , 1912-13 Pencil on Japan paper, 22 x 14.8 inch (560 x 375 mm) numbered on the verso with blue crayon "188" Estate stamp (Sammlung R. Zimpel) Strobl Cat. rais. no. 2157 Provenance Christian M. Nebehay Collection, Vienna. Exhibition - Gustav Klimt. 56 Zeichnungen, Ch. M. Nebehay, Vienna 1967. - Gustav Klimt, Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle (Saale) 14.10.2018 - 06.01.2019. Literature - Ch. M. Nebehay, Gustav Klimt. 56 Zeichnungen, Vienna 1967, no. 46.
- Fritz Novotny and Johannes Dobai, Gustav Klimt, Salzburg 1967, p. 359.
- Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen. II: 1904-1912, Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1982, Cat. rais. no. 2157.
- Christian M. Nebehay, Gustav Klimt. Von der Zeichnung zum Bild, 1992, p. 148. (illus.).
- Rainer Metzger, Gustav Klimt. Das graphische Werk, Vienna 2005, p. 307 (illus.).
- Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Gustav Klimt. Drawings, Wienerroither & Kohlbacher (edt.), Vienna 2018, cat. no. 34.
- Philipsen/Bauer-Friedrich/Büche (ed.), Gustav Klimt & Hugo Henneberg. Zwei Künstler der Wiener Sezession, exh. cat.
Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle (Saale) 2018, p. 88, cat. no. 57.
23.01.2020 • Seite 16GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN , 1915 Pencil on paper, 22.4 x 14.8 inch (568 x 375 mm) Estate stamp at lower right Strobl, cat. rais. no. 2651 Interpretation The bust portrait, or half-length portrait, features throughout Gustav Klimt’s graphic oeuvre – from the beginnings in Historicism to his late work. As Alice Strobl noted, Klimt appears to have drawn inspiration for this type of depiction from Italian Renaissance portraits.1) In the majority of cases the portrayals bear no relation to the painted works. This also applies to this drawing, which is an autonomous work and an exquisite example from a group of female bust portraits that Alice Strobl dated around 1915. Capturing, and in places emphasizing, the outlines by means of a series of short pencil strokes is a characteristic of this phase in Klimt’s work. In spite of the loosely rendered, vibrating lines, the facial features are defined with great clarity. The drawing is centred around the boldly accentuated eyes with a sidelong glance. A further characteristic of this phase is Klimt’s preference for heavy eyebrows drawn in a series of overlapping strokes; by contrast, the melancholy, introspective gaze comes across even more strongly. As the face is shown in three-quarter profile, the curved bridge of the nose subtly crops the right eye. The slightly parted lips, the mouth with a ghost of a smile adds to this contemplative mood.
Using just a few lines Klimt delineated the naked upper body, cropped on the right by the edge of the sheet. This half-figure, firmly
anchored to the picture plane, has a calm assurance and conveys a monumental three-dimensionality enhanced by the light.
Indeed, in this drawing of a young model Klimt’s characteristic ‘balancing act’ between three-dimensional form and subtle linearity,
between ideal detachment and sensual closeness is particularly striking.
Marian Bisanz-Prakken
(translated from the German by Rebecca Law)
1) Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt: Die Zeichnungen, vol. III (Salzburg 1984), p. 129
Provenance
Private collection, Geneva. – Lederer Collection, Geneva. – Private collection, Germany. – Galerie Kornfeld, Bern. – Private
collection, Vienna
Exhibition
Gustav Klimt, Zeichnungen aus der Albertina und Privatbesitz, Museum Folkwang, Essen 1976
Literature
E.Pirchan, Gustav Klimt, Vienna 1956, p.139. (illus) - Gustav Klimt, Zeichnungen aus der Albertina und Privatbesitz, exh. cat.
Museum Folkwang, Essen 1976, no. 95 (illus.) – Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen. III: 1912 - 1918, Verlag Galerie Welz,
Salzburg 1984, cat.rais.no. 2651. - Marian Bisanz-Prakken, Gustav Klimt. Drawings. Wienerroither & Kohlbacher (Edt.), Vienna,
2018, Kat. Nr. 26.
23.01.2020 • Seite 9GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 PORTRAIT OF A BOY FROM THE FRONT (GEORGE VON HALBAN-KURZ) , 1917 Pencil, coloured pencil and chalk on paper, 23.4 x 18.5 inch (59.5 x 46.9 cm) Strobl Cat. rais. no. 2737 Interpretation „[ ]. Between these children's pictures [after Gertrude Flöge, Strobl 2630-34] and those of cat.nos. 2737-45 there is a temporal difference of at least two years, which is not only expressed in a changed way of drawing, but also manifests itself in the overall conception. In these sheets the reproduction of the dress is not of importance, the children's bodies appear without essence, completely dematerialized. Only the more secure are important, in which everything is concentrated on the eyes again; these do not look realistically into the world as in the first group, but possess that shy gaze which gives an idea of the child's soul. The starting point for this very late group are the portrait drawings of the children of the very famous coloratura singer Selma Kurz (1874-1933), Dési (born 10.04.1912) and Georg (born 14.07.1915) by Halban-Kurz, who, as we know from the sitters, Klimt created in autumn 1917. Furthermore, one of the necrologists on the occasion of the death of Gustav Klimt states that painted portraits of the two children were also planned, and that they were no longer executed. However, Dési v. Saher-Halban, a famous singer herself, could not give any information about this. Klimt drew most of these studies on the largest paper format he ever used.
[ ]“
Alice Strobl
Provenance
Selma Kurz & Josef von Halban, Vienna, by whom commissioned directly from the artist;
W&K - Wienerroither & Kohlbacher, Vienna;
Private collection (1998);
Private collection, a gift from the above.
Literature
- Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt: Die Zeichnungen, vol. III, 1912-1918, Salzburg, 1984, no. 2737, pp. 131 &152 (illustrated).
- Kohlbacher/Wienerroither, Österreichische Meister der klassischen Moderne, Exhibition Catalogue vol. 1, Alois Wienerroither/
Eberhard Kohlbacher (Ed.), W&K Edition, Vienna 1998, no. 22.
23.01.2020 • Seite 14GUSTAV KLIMT 1862 - Vienna - 1918 CROUCHING SEMI-NUDE , 1917-18 Pencil on Japan paper, 21.9 x 14.6 inch (557 x 372 mm) Strobl Cat. rais. no. 2984 Provenance Private collection, Vienna. Exhibition - Experiment Weltuntergang, Wien um 1900, Kunsthalle, Hamburg 10.04. - 31.05.1981. Literature - Hofmann, Experiment Weltuntergang, Wien um 1900, exhibition catalogue Kunsthalle, Hamburg 1981, no. 50 (ill.). - Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt, Die Zeichnungen 1912-1918, Salzburg 1984, Cat. rais. no. 2984.
OSKAR KOKOSCHKA Pöchlarn/Niederösterreich 1886 - 1980 Montreux/Schweiz YOUNG GIRL IN A BLUE COAT , 1907 Pencil and watercolour on paper, 17.9 x 12.4 inch (454 x 316 mm) Signed with a monogram (lower right) Weidinger/Strobl Cat. rais. no. 143 Interpretation In 1906, at the age of twenty, Oskar Kokoschka became a student at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) in Vienna, where he attended the class taught by Otto Czeschka. From the beginning he focused on life drawing, of both the nude and of the figure in motion. By the summer semester of 1907 he had been granted sole use of a studio. There, as he was later to record (Oskar Kokoschka, Mein Leben, Munich 1971, pp. 50–51; cited here from Eng. trans., My Life, London 1974, p. 19), he “got the children of a circus family, who used to live by modelling in the winter when there was no other work, to play and leap around [so that he could capture in] lightning studies [. . . ] the various movements and twists of the body in action [. . . ]”. It was also in 1907 that the Viennese Galerie Miethke staged an exhibition of work by Paul Gauguin. As demonstrated by the present sheet, the figure’s somewhat exotic air and the clothing loosely and only partially covering the body (both characteristic of Gauguin) were to feature in Kokoschka’s own drawings.
Here, however, the coat or cloak thrown casually over the shoulder is supplied with a number of modish details: its double collar
and its manifestly fashionable cut. On account, however, of its planar abstraction and its unified blue colouring, the garment, which
here seems detached from the tender contours of the still androgynous girl’s body, gives the image as a whole the look of a collage.
In rendering the figure, Kokoschka applies his watercolour very sparingly. The flesh tone itself has many a hint of pink, and the
brown used for the hair recurs on the face, the breast and the toes. Through these means, Kokoschka situates the figure firmly
within his sheet.
In this watercolour Kokoschka is already striking out in an entirely new expressive direction, which was indeed in keeping with the
rapidly evolving socio-political mood of the time. He was now concerned not with the mandatory, universally valid figural stylisation
favoured in the still prevalent ideals of beauty, but with his own particular sense of vocation and of inner necessity as a way to
assert his artistic autonomy. This deliberate move away from the stiff, naturalistic rendering of the human body that was the norm at
this time constituted Kokoschka’s first step towards a truly expressionistic art. It was through such spontaneous studies of figures at
rest or in motion that he evolved his own, immensely distinctive drawing style.
This particular work evinces an additional aspect of the shift in style that was to characterise Kokoschka’s later oeuvre. It is
detectable in his first attempts at an emphatically angular treatment of the body. The austere charm and almost cultic air of this
presentation of the figure anticipates what we find in Kokoschka’s illustrations for his first published literary work, of 1908, Die
Träumenden Knaben (The Dreaming Boys), and in the poster showing a youthful female figure, the “cotton picker”, which he
designed to advertise that year’s great Viennese group exhibition, the Kunstschau, at which he showed publically for the first time.
(Christa Armann; translated from German by Elizabeth Clegg)
Provenance
Collection of Hans Strohofer (1885 –1961), one of Kokoschka’s fellow students at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna;
Bequest to Strohofer’s daughter, in 1961; in her possession until 1979;
Sale at Hassfurther, Vienna, 26 May 1979, no. 160, catalogue colour plate XIV;
Sale at Hassfurther, Vienna, 31 March 1984, no. 68, catalogue colour plate 13;
Private collection, Germany (1984).
Exhibition
- Österreichische Kunst 1880-1945, Secession, Vienna 08.05. - 31.05.1979.
- Centre Georges Pompidou, Kokoschka. Dessins et aquarelles: 1906-1926, Paris 21.01. - 22.03.1987, no. 6 (with coloured image,
not exhibited).
- Oskar Kokoschka. Das Frühwerk (1897/98-1917). Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, Albertina, Vienna 02.03. - 23.05.1994.
- Oskar Kokoschka. Expressionist, Migrant, Europäer. Eine Retrospektive, Kunsthaus Zurich 14.12.2018 - 10.03.2019, Leopold
Museum Vienna 06.04. - 08.07.2019.
Literature
- Weltkunst, vol. 49, no. 9, Munich 01.05.1979, p. 1173 (ill.).
- Werner J. Schweiger, Der junge Kokoschka. Leben und Werk 1904–1914, Vienna and Munich 1983, col. fig. on p. 101.
- Alice Strobl/Alfred Weidinger, Oskar Kokoschka. Zeichnungen und Aquarelle aus dem Frühwerk (1897/98-1917), exh.cat.,
Albertina, Vienna 1994, pp. 12–13, cat. no. 20.
- Alfred Weidinger, Oskar Kokoschka. Träumender Knabe und Enfant Terrible 1897/98 bis 1910. Doctoral dissertation, University of
Salzburg, Salzburg 1997, p. 69, fig. 149.
23.01.2020 • Seite 39- Heinz Spielmann, Oskar Kokoschka. Leben und Werk, Cologne 2003, fig. on p. 64.
- Alfred Weidinger/Alice Strobl, Oskar Kokoschka. Die Zeichnungen und Aquarelle. 1897 – 1916, Galerie Welz (edt.), Salzburg
2008, Cat. rais. no. 143, b/w fig. on p. 84.
- Hug/Eipeltauer, Oskar Kokoschka. Expressionist, Migrant, Europäer. Eine Retrospektive, exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zurich/Leopold
Museum Vienna, Zürich 2018, fig. cat. 105, p. 57.
23.01.2020 • Seite 40LANG, Erwin 1886 – 1962 Austrian School SCENE FROM THE CYCLE: DANTE’S VITA NOVA 1912/13 Woodcut on cream Japan paper, no watermark. Sheet size: 18 1/2” x 13 3/4” (47 x 34.9 cm); image size: 10 1/4” x 9 3/8” (26 x 23.9 cm).
LÖFFLER, Bertold 1874 - 1960 Austrian School SAINT SEBASTIAN, circa 1920/30 Charcoal and watercolor on heavy weight, white, wove paper, no watermark. 10 7/16” x 8” (26.4 x 20.3 cm). Titled in charcoal at lower margin: ST. SEBASTIAN; artist’s estate stamp at lower right margin. On verso: inscribed in blue crayon: 44. Note: Löffler, one of the most prominent artists of the Wiener Werkstätte, practiced painting, poster design, illustration, and ceramics. Most notable are his commissions for the Palais Stoclet in Brussels and the Fledermaus Cabaret in Vienna. The present watercolor of St. Sebastian, with the angel bearing a banner inscribed “ora pro nobis” (pray for us), cannot be attributed to a particular project. It was part of a suite of watercolors of saints. Whether they were illustrations or to be made into murals is unknown at this time. The figure of Sebastian stands on a mount and is posed and rendered as if reminiscent of a ceramic sculpture.
OTTO MUEHL Mariasdorf, Österreich 1925 - 2013 Moncarapacho, Portugal UNTITLED , 22.03.1985 Watercolour on paper, 12.2 x 17.3 inch (310 x 440 mm) signed and dated on lower right:m 22.3.85 Provenance Friedrichshof collection, Austria.
PECHE, Dagobert 1887 – 1923
Austrian School
EMBROIDERY ON TULLE, circa 1917-19
White embroidery on white tulle. Oval. 17” x 14 1/2” (43 x 36.8 cm).
Note: Between 1915 and 1923, Dagobert Peche was the most exciting designer working at the Wiener Werkstätte
(Vienna Workshops). After his early death at age thirty-six, Josef Hoffmann remarked, “only every one-hundred,
maybe three-hundred years such a genius is born to a nation.” A recent exhibition at the Neue Galerie, New York,
introduced this artist to the American audience in an installation which did justice to the adventurous imagination of
Peche. A valuable catalogue accompanied the exhibition.
The present textile is an embroidery on tulle, a craft that Peche cultivated from 1917 on, after he had moved
to Zürich as director of a newly created branch of the Wiener Werkstätte. He almost “draws” with the needle on the
soft background which gently changes with the perspective of the viewer. The androgynous figure is adorned with
ribbons, flowers seem to sprout on the legs, plant-like ornaments grow on the figure’s head as well as out of the
bowl of fruit. The figure is on its toes, perhaps dancing, like a Bacchic figure on a Greek vase. Variations of these
elements can be found in many of Peche’s drawings, especially in one at the museum for Applied Arts in Vienna
(inv. No. 8396/13) which depicts a similar bowl of fruit surmounted by the same slender stems with berries.
Reference:
Max Eisler, Dagobert Peche, Stuttgart, 1992, p. 65-67, ill. of tulle embroideries.
Nikolaus Schaffer, Dagobert Peche, Salzburg, 1987, K 116, ill. of the drawing in the Vienna Museum.
Dagobert Peche and the Vienna Werkstätte, Neue Galerie, New York, 2002.EGON SCHIELE Tulln 1890 - 1918 Vienna RECLINING MALE NUDE , 1910 Watercolour and pencil on paper, 12.2 x 16.9 inch (310 x 430 mm) Signed and dated lower right: EGON SCHIELE 1910 Initialed lower left as vertical: S Kallir Cat. rais. no. 666 Provenance Dr. Rüdiger von Engerth, Vienna (acquired in 1946 and 1947); by descent to the current owner, Privat Collection, Austria (2005). Literature - Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele. The Complete Works. Including a Biography and a Catalogue Raisonné, New York 1990 and 1998, Cat. rais. no. 666. - Richard Nagy, Egon Schiele, exh.cat. Art Basel Hong Kong, 2019, ill. no. 4.
EGON SCHIELE Tulln 1890 - 1918 Vienna MALE NUDE (SELF-PORTRAIT) I , 1912 Brush and ink lithograph in one color on yellowish Velin paper, 17.7 x 15.7 inch (449 x 400 mm) signed and dated in pencil and in the stone with signet of the SEMA Association Edition 200 Published in the SEMA portfolio by Delphin-Verlag, Munich. Kallir Cat. rais. no. Graphics 1/b/2 Interpretation As a true contemporary of Freud and Schnitzler, Schiele studied the psyche and believed implicitly that to understand another person’s unconscious processes, he had first to understand his own. The self-portraits are not simply an exhibition of nudity; they are an attempt at full disclosure of the self, a self-analysis, to reveal his unconscious sexual striving through autoerotic art. Schiele’s naked full-body portraits are largely without precedent in Western art. Schiele carried the nude to another level: he created a new, autoerotic art to reveal his unconscious sexual striving.
– Eric Kandel
Provenance
Galerie St. Etienne, New York;
Private collection, USA.
23.01.2020 • Seite 55EGON SCHIELE Tulln 1890 - 1918 Vienna CROUCHING FEMALE NUDE , 1914 Gouache, watercolour and black crayon on paper, 12.2 x 18.9 inch (310 x 480 mm) Signed and dated on lower right: Egon Schiele 1914 Kallir Cat. rais. no. 1561 Interpretation The arresting nudes of 1914 demonstrate a remarkable voluptuousness and three-dimensionality. Dynamic positions - squatting, leaning, crouching - were now favored by the artist, with the underglaze used to define their forms contributing to the voluminous effect. Indicative of the artist’s shift in concentration to the figure itself, the faces of his models remain largely rounded and uncharacterized. - Dieter Buchhart, Egon Schiele, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 2018, p. 186. Provenance Serge Sabarsky, New York; Private Collection, New York; Private Collection, Europe.
Exhibition
- Egon Schiele 1890 – 1918. Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings, Felix Laundau Gallery, Los Angeles 1967.
- Egon Schiele and the Human Form: Drawings and Watercolors, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines September 20 - 0ctober 31,
1971; Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus November 15 - December 19, 1971; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago January 3 -
February 13, 1972.
- Egon Schiele, Haus der Kunst, Munich 1975.
- Egon Schiele, Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, April 27 – June 6, 1979.
- Egon Schiele. Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Vienna; Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, Linz;
Museum Villa Stuck & Hannover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Munich 1981-1982.
- Egon Schiele, Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome; Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna, Venice.
- Egon Schiele: Vom Schüler zum Meister, Zeichnungen und Aquarelle 1906-1918, Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna;
Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milan; Villa Zito, Palermo; Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv (& travelling) 1984-85.
- Egon Schiele: 100 Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, Bawag Foundation (& travelling), Vienna 1988-97.
- Egon Schiele: Arbeiten auf Papier, Hauser & Wirth, Zurich 1994.
- Interpretations of Nude, MilionArt - a brand of Froner & Partner GmbH, Messe Innsbruck, Haupthalle A, Innsbruck 30.11. -
04.12.2016.
- Egon Schiele. Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 03.10.2018-14.01.2019.
Literature
- Rudolf Leopold, Egon Schiele. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Salzburg 1972, ill. p. 585.
- The Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo: Egon Schiele - an exhibition selected and introduced by Serge Sabarsky. The Tokyo Shimbun,
The Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo 1979, fig. 53.
- Serge Sabarsky, Egon Schiele. Disegni erotici, Milan 1981, ill. p. 29.
- Bisanz/Sabarsky, Egon Schiele. Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Vienna 1981, p. 72, ill. 82.
- Serge Sabarsky, Egon Schiele, Watercolors and Drawings, New York 1983, illustrated p. 29.
- Serge Sabarsky, Egon Schiele, Milan 1984, no. 134, ill. in colour n.p.
- Nassau County Museum of Art, Serge Sabarsky, Egon Schiele 1890-1918, A Centennial Retrospective, Stuttgart 1990, ill. 73.
- Annette Vogel, Egon Schiele, Arbeiten auf Papier, Zurich 1994, ill. in colour p. 81.
- Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele. The Complete Works, New York 1998, no. 1561, ill. p. 530.
- Buchhart, Egon Schiele, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 2018, p. 186, no. 90.
23.01.2020 • Seite 48EGON SCHIELE Tulln 1890 - 1918 Vienna RECLINING NUDE, MASTURBATING , 1914 Pencil on paper, 12 x 19 inch (305 x 483 mm) Kallir Cat. rais. no. 1579b Interpretation Egon Schiele’s pencil drawing of a masturbating woman is one of the most uncompromising examples of his insistent exploration of human, notably female, sexuality, which led to the artist being discredited as a pornographer and incurred the ire of bourgeois society and its systems of justice. However, the model’s anonymity reflects that Schiele was not intent on voyeuristic titillation. Within the oval face, with no eyes, two eyebrows are rendered as if with a compass and extend to suggest the nose. Below there is still the resplendently sensual mouth with full lips, yet by omitting the eyes the figure loses all individuality. It is not possible for the viewer to gain eye contact, or fixate lasciviously on the figure as an object of lust. This unsigned and undated work can be classified around the year 1914, in terms of both style and content. At that time the subject of masturbation recurred frequently in Schiele’s graphic work, as did the geometric, simplified linking of eyebrows and nose, recalling Cubist stylistic devices. Furthermore, the curving-dynamic line is typical of this period, its rapid, almost gestural strokes aiming not so much at precise and detailed realism but at spontaneously capturing elemental vitality. Edwin Lachnit
(translated from German by Rebecca Law)
Provenance
Sam Francis, Santa Monica;
Galerie St. Etienne, New York;
Private collection, Vienna.
Exhibition
- Au Temps du Klimt. La Secession a Vienne, Pinacotheque de Paris, Paris 12.2.2015 – 21.6.2015.
- Interpretations of nude, MilionArt - a brand of Froner & Partner GmbH, Messe Innsbruck, Haupthalle A, Innsbruck 30.11. -
04.12.2016.
- Egon Schiele, Albertina Museum, Vienna 22.02. - 18.06.2017.
Literature
- Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele. The Complete Works. Including a Biography and a Catalogue Raisonné, New York 1990 and 1998, Cat.
rais. no. 1579b, p. 673.
- Egon Schiele, exh.cat., Albertina Museum, Vienna 2017, p. 292, no. 118.
23.01.2020 • Seite 50EGON SCHIELE Tulln 1890 - 1918 Vienna RECLINING FEMALE NUDE WITH RAISED LEGS , 1918 Black crayon on paper, 11.6 x 17.9 inch (295 x 455 mm) Signed and dated at lower centre: EGON / SCHIELE / 1918 Kallir Cat. rais. no. 2252 Interpretation The drawings Schiele produced in 1918 were, like those of the previous year, predominantly of the nude and semi-nude female studio model. He continued to make regular use of charcoal and, above all (as in the present sheet) of black crayon; but he now only rarely resorted to gouache or watercolour. The works on paper of what were to be the last ten months of his career are, at their best, a testament to his mastery of the continuous, form-sculpting line. Schiele’s work from the model during 1918 is also notable for the far greater proportion of the resulting drawings – well over 75 per cent – in which the figure is entirely naked.1 (This may well reflect a continuing preoccupation with his series of allegorical paintings, in which none of the figures is clothed.) But the remainder are, in turn, themselves remarkable for examples from two extremes. In some, including the present sheet, the garments are so rendered as to become effectively “invisible”. In others, the clothing is so obtrusive as to heighten our surprise at what is nonetheless revealed: this is the function of the overcoat and voluminous skirt worn by the squatting model in one of the most striking images of this period (see fig. Kallir, cat. rais. no. D 2418). Much was sacrificed at this time to the imperatives and exigencies of continuous production to satisfy the demand arising in response to Schiele’s now established reputation as a master of the erotic / pornographic.2 But, even in such circumstances,
Schiele’s enduring capacity for looking afresh at the female (semi-)nude ensured that examples such as our reclining figure do
possess, alongside their slick efficacy, elements and aspects that may so startle or provoke (here, the disconcerting scale of the
foregrounded and foreshortened thighs, or the implied simultaneous “presence” and “absence” of the subject herself) as to lift
them well beyond erotic / pornographic “routine”.
1) The proportion for 1917 would be just under 50 per cent.
2) For a sobering assessment of Schiele’s drawings of this period as, on the whole, no more than “conventionally erotic”, see Jane
Kallir, Egon Schiele: Drawings and Watercolours, London 2003, pp. 388-90.
Elizabeth Clegg
Provenance
Private collection, Austria.
Exhibition
- Österreichischer Expressionismus – Malerei und Graphik 1905–1925, Musée d’Ixelles 18.06.1998 – 13.09.1998, Stadtgalerie
Klagenfurt 16.10.1998 – 10.1.1999, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere.
Literature
- Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele. The Complete Works. Including a Biography and a Catalogue Raisonné, New York 1990 and 1998, Cat.
rais. no. 2252.
- Rossi/Smola, Österreichischer Expressionismus – Malerei und Graphik 1905–1925, Ausstellungskatalog, Österreichische Galerie
Belvedere/Musée d’Ixelles/Stadtgalerie Klagenfurt, Blondé Artprinting Int., Vienna 1998, ill. p. 41, no. 1.
23.01.2020 • Seite 53SCHMALE-WALTER, Erich 1886 - 1964 Austrian School PUPPET THEATER, 1922 Ink wash, graphite, and gouache on card, no watermark. 12” x 11 7/8” (30.5 x 30.2 cm). Inscribed in body of drawing in gouache: PRVDENS FVTVRI TEMPORIS EXITVM CALIGNOSA NOCTE PREMIT DES, RIDETQUE, SI MORTALIS VLTRA FAS TREPIDAT [God in his wisdom veils in the darkness of night the events of the future, and smiles if a mortal is unduly solicitous about what he is not permitted to know. Horace, Odes 2.29.29]. Signed and dated in gouache lower right: Erich Schmale/Walter/22. Notes for the printer inscribed on verso: schmale-walter puppen theater/Schwarz grün rot/20 cm breit/2 Pausen/1 [?] 2 k[a]p. Note: A well-known graphic artist and illustrator, Erich Schmale-Walter studied under Bertold Löffler at the Vienna School of Applied Arts. He collaborated with the Wiener Werkstätte and he contributed to Simplicissimus as well as to the Austrian magazine Die Muskete. The present work is an illustration for the December 20th, 1922, “puppet issue” of Die Muskete, which was devoted to all aspects of puppetry. The line on top of the proscenium translates as: “God in his wisdom veils in the darkness of night the events of the future, and smiles if a mortal is unduly solicitous about what he is not permitted to know.” The words are taken from Horace’s Odes, which were written between 30 and 23 B.C.E.
FRANZ WEST 1947 - Vienna - 2012 DAS ALLZU KREATÜRLICHE , 1990 Collage and mixed media on cardboard in original frame of the artist, 52 x 30 cm (20.5 x 11.8 inch) signed, dated and titled on lower centre and right: das allzu Kreatürliche, F.West 90 Provenance Artist's studio; Private collection, Austria; Private collection, Austria.
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