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Bust Portrait of a Lady with Ornamented Blouse. Study for Portrait of Ria Munk III, c. 1917

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Pencil, white chalk, blue and red crayon on Japanese paper
50.2×32.5 cm

Artists

  • Gustav Klimt

    (Baumgarten near Vienna 1862–1918 Vienna)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
This work on paper is a study for the painting Portrait of Ria Munk III which Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) started in 1917 but was unable to finish. Of the over ten known head studies which Alice Strobl associated with the full-figure portrait, this drawing from the Leopold Museum doubtlessly comes closest to the painted version. The drawing shows the same oval half profile with the distinctively round chin and smiling lips, though in the drawing the upper body is turned to the right and in the painted version to the left. As with the other known face studies for the Portrait of Ria Munk III, the artist used not only pencil but also crayons and white heightening, which invests the drawing with a painterly appeal. The novel arabesques in the woman’s dress also adorn the dress in the painting, though Klimt was unable to fully elaborate them in this final version. Klimt ennobled the drawing by investing it with a block signature, which suggests that he sold the work.

FS

Object data

Artist/author
  • Gustav Klimt
Title
Bust Portrait of a Lady with Ornamented Blouse. Study for Portrait of Ria Munk III
Date
c. 1917
Art movement
Art Nouveau, Symbolism
Category
Graphic work
Material​/technique
Pencil, white chalk, blue and red crayon on Japanese paper
Dimensions
50.2×32.5 cm
Signature
Signed lower right using pencil: GUSTAV KLIMT
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 1295
Inventory access
Contributed to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994
Selection of Reference works
  • Gustav Klimt. Die Sammlung im Leopold Museum, hrsg. von Tobias G. Natter/Elisabeth Leopold, Berlin 2023, 2. Aufl. (Bestandskatalog des Leopold Museum)
  • Gustav Klimt. Die Sammlung im Leopold Museum, hrsg. von Tobias G. Natter/Elisabeth Leopold, Ostfildern 2013 (Bestandskatalog des Leopold Museum: Band 1).
  • Alice Strobl: Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen 1912-1918, Salzburg 1984.
Catalogue raisonne
  • Strobl Bd. 3/1984: 2628
Keywords
woman/girlblousehead turned sideways (fem.)

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (vor 1989-1994); (1)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (1994)

  1. Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen 1878-1918 Nachtrag, Salzburg 1989, Nr. 2628

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Search in collection

woman/girlblousehead turned sideways (fem.)

2023/2024 Partial funding for digitization by the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport „Kulturerbe digital“ as part of NextGenerationEU.