Gustav Klimt

Standing from the front, holding the cloak with her left hand

Details

Strobl 2512.

Exhibition:
Gustav Klimt, Spencer A. Samuels, New York 1974, Addendum Cat.No. a8, with illus.

Provenance:
Dorotheum, Vienna 14-17 March 1967, lot 351, with illus. plate 120;
Sotheby’s, London 6 December 1973, lot 218, with illus.
Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich 28/29 November 1977, lot 1064, with illus.
Private collection, Munich.

Description

• Study for a portrait of a lady of the Viennese upper middle classes
• Charming lines full of spontaneity and vivacity
• Exciting insight into Klimt’s working methods with numerous preliminary studies

Without the Lederer family, Gustav Klimt’s career would certainly have taken a different course. The patrons, members of the Viennese bourgeoisie and Ringstrasse celebrities, not only financed his paintings, Serena Lederer herself occasionally embarked on a stormy affair with the painter. In addition, the Lederers and their relatives repeatedly became the subject of Klimt’s works. In 1916, for example, he painted August and Serena Lederer’s daughter Elisabeth. She is now a married Baroness Bachofen-Echt. In her completed painting, she poses against a chinoiserie background in a sensationally modern dress and is ennobled by Gustav Klimt’s artistry.

Also in 1916, Klimt painted Ria Munk. Serena Lederer’s niece had chosen to commit suicide in 1911, and five years later her mother commissioned a portrait of her daughter’s memory. A first version shows the dead daughter in Ophelia style and horrifies the client. This is not how she had imagined the portrait of her deceased daughter! A second version also met with disapproval. This time Ria Munk is alive and stands in a colourful dress against a flowery background, but her chest is bare. Only a third version will find favour.

The present sheet could be a garment study for both paintings, Elisabeth or Ria. The sitter is faceless; the focus here is less on the portrait and more on the drapery’s drapery and drapery design, which is full of swirls and circles. However, the sitter is neither Elisabeth nor Ria. Rather, it is a model who is wearing the dress and drapery depicted here for Gustav Klimt. This model can probably be identified as Johanna Jusl, a dancer at the Vienna State Opera.

* All results incl. buyer’s premium (27%) without VAT. No guarantee, subject to error.
** All post-auction prices excl. buyer's premium and VAT. No guarantee, subject to error.
*** Conditional Sale: The bid was accepted below the limit. Acquisition of the work may still be possible in our post-auction sale.
R = regular taxation
N = differential taxation on works of art which originate from a country outside of the EU
The private or commercial use of images shown on this Website, in particular through duplication or dissemination, is not permitted. All rights reserved.