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Seated Female Semi-Nude with Spread Legs. Reproduced in Lucian’s Dialogues of the Courtesans, 1904

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Pencil on Japanese paper
34.8×55.1 cm

Artists

  • Gustav Klimt

    (Baumgarten near Vienna/Vienna 1862–1918 Vienna)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
This drawing is part of a group of nude depictions Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) created in connection with the first version, dated 1904, of his painting Water Snakes II. What is unusual about the drawing is the position of the woman who, rather than lying sideways, appears from the front, half lying and half leaning against rectangular, wedge-shaped cushions, her legs spread far apart, looking at the beholder. The striking motif of the wedge-shaped cushions, decorated with square and circular ornaments, reappears in an almost identical form in other studies of reclining females for Water Snakes II. The geometrical shape of the cushions corresponds to the prominently outlined body parts, while planar shapes, such as the woman’s hairstyle, unfold a dialogue between forms. This drawing was included in the publication Lucian’s Dialogues of the Courtesans, published by Franz Blei in 1907, along with 14 other Klimt drawings.

FS

Object data

Artist/author
  • Gustav Klimt
Title
Seated Female Semi-Nude with Spread Legs. Reproduced in Lucian’s Dialogues of the Courtesans
Date
1904
Art movement
Symbolism, Art Nouveau
Category
Graphic work
Material​/technique
Pencil on Japanese paper
Dimensions
34.8×55.1 cm
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 1322
Inventory access
Contributed to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994
Selection of Reference works
  • Gustav Klimt. Jahrhundertkünstler, hrsg. von Hans-Peter Wipplinger/Sandra Tretter, Wien 2018 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, 22.06.2018–04.11.2018).
  • Gustav Klimt. Die Sammlung im Leopold Museum, hrsg. von Tobias G. Natter/Elisabeth Leopold, Ostfildern 2013 (Bestandskatalog des Leopold Museum: Band 1).
  • Klimt persönlich. Bilder - Briefe - Einblicke, hrsg. von Tobias G. Natter/Franz Smola, Wien 2012 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, 24.02.2012–27.08.2012).
  • Die nackte Wahrheit. Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka und andere Skandale, hrsg. von Tobias G. Natter/Max Hollein, München 2005 (Ausst.-Kat. Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 28.01.2005-24.01.2005; Leopold Museum, Wien, 31.05.2005-22.08.2005).
  • Alice Strobl: Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen 1904-1912, Salzburg 1982.
Catalogue raisonne
  • Strobl Bd. 2/1982: 13939
Keywords
semi-nudewoman/girlsitting figure (fem.)bootshairdress (fem.)sitting with legs bent, straddlinghands on top of each other

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Galerie Littauer, München (1908); (1)
Auktion: 17.04.1975, Sotheby‘s London, Los Nr. 252; (2)
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (1975-1994); (3)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (1994).

  1. Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen. 1878-1918 Nachtrag, Bd. 4, Salzburg 1989, S. 224
  2. Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen 1904-1912, Bd. 2, Salzburg 1982, S. 74, Nr. 1393
  3. Archiv des Leopold Museums, Rechnung von Sotheby´s London vom 21.04.1975

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Search in collection

semi-nudewoman/girlsitting figure (fem.)bootshairdress (fem.)sitting with legs bent, straddlinghands on top of each other