The Ice Queen II

Details

Putz 1125.

Provenance:

Vienna Art Auctions, Vienna 11 October 2005, lot 180;

Private property, Southern Germany.

Description

– Fairytale paintings are among the most beautiful works in Putz’s earlier creative phases

– The theme of the “Ice Queen” occupies a special place in Putz’s oeuvre, which he explored several times between 1903 and 1917/18

– Paintings full of subtle eroticism and sensuality

Leo Putz likes to take up fairy tales and legendary motifs and interpret them in his own way. His fairytale paintings “Puss in Boots”, “Twelve Brothers”, “Hansel and Gretel”, “Princess Rapunzel” and others are among the most beautiful and peculiar works in the artist’s earlier creative phases.

In our painting, we see the Ice Queen with her crown of icicles, chasing naked on a red sleigh pulled by deer or reindeer across a gloomy snowy landscape. She is accompanied on her speedy journey by polar bears and dogs or arctic foxes. Three dark male figures rush off in panic.

Leo Putz’s Ice Queen is full of subtle eroticism and sensuality. He makes her the bearer of a mysterious message. Her relentless hunt is characterised by hard-heartedness, callousness and cruelty. She is the demonic woman who brings destruction. The red colour of her chariot not only suggests her royal dignity, but also presents her as a goddess of war. The blue colouring of the landscape, partly broken up with black and partly heightened with light blue, contrasts with the warm colours of her incarnation. However, the bright yellow colour accents applied at certain points symbolise the melting of the ice, which could possibly mean the warming of the Ice Queen’s cold heart.

The theme of the Ice Queen occupies a special place in Putz’s oeuvre. A first sketch can be dated to 1903, sketches II and III were created in a first version in 1906. He painted further versions in 1917/18, and our painting can also be dated to this period.