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Bust Portrait of a Female Nude from the Left, c. 1915

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Pencil on Japanese paper
56.5×37.4 cm

Artists

  • Gustav Klimt

    (Baumgarten near Vienna/Vienna 1862–1918 Vienna)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
This work on paper is part of a larger group of drawn bust and half-length portraits by Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) which can be dated around 1915/16. The Leopold Collection comprises three portrait studies from this period, including Female Head in Half Profile from the Left. Many of the models depicted in these portraits wear a full-bodied hairstyle, fashionable from 1914, which the artist invested with extra volume in this rendering. Alice Strobl highlighted the curls of hair visible in the drawing, which seem to alleviate the face’s severity. What is particularly remarkable about this depiction is its high degree of immediacy brought about by the model turning her head and gaze towards the beholder, by her lips parted into a smile and her hand, rendered with only a few strokes, held up to her chest to point at something. In autonomous portrait drawings such as this one, Klimt liked to explore various moods – in the present example, it was likely one induced by a cheerful and animated conversation between the painter and his model.

FS

Object data

Artist/author
  • Gustav Klimt
Title
Bust Portrait of a Female Nude from the Left
Date
c. 1915
Art movement
Symbolism, Art Nouveau
Category
Graphic work
Material​/technique
Pencil on Japanese paper
Dimensions
56.5×37.4 cm
Signature
Stamp (purple) lower right: GUSTAV KLIMT NACHLASS; designated lower right: J
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 1297
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, Ostfildern 2013 (Bestandskatalog des Leopold Museum: Band 1).
  • Alice Strobl: Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen 1912-1918, Salzburg 1984.
Catalogue raisonne
  • Strobl Bd. 3/1984: 2649
Keywords
woman/girlnude(nude) female figurehairdress (fem.)head turned to the leftarm/hand held in front of chest

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Nachlass Gustav Klimt, Wien (1918); (1)
Rudolf Staechelin, Basel (o.D.-1931); (2)
Rudolf Staechelin´sche Familienstiftung, Basel (1931-1977); (3)
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (1977-1994); (4)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (1994).

  1. Nachlass-Stempel: »GUSTAV / KLIMT / NACHLASS« vorne rechts unten
  2. Michael Wladika, Dossier zu 11 Blättern von Gustav Klimt mit der Provenienz Rudolf Staechelin vom 31.01.2018, S. 60.
  3. Stempel auf der Blattrückseite links unten: „Rud. Staechelin´sche Familienstiftung Inv. Nr. 255“
  4. Wladika, Dossier, S. 58-60.

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Search in collection

woman/girlnude(nude) female figurehairdress (fem.)head turned to the leftarm/hand held in front of chest