Female Head in Half Profile from the Left, c. 1916

Like so many of the portrait studies Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) executed between 1915 and 1916, the present work cannot be associated with a specific portrait painting. The Leopold Collection contains three such anonymous portrait studies from this period. The depiction is limited to a half profile from a slight bottom view, without any indication of the neck and upper body which usually appear in the artist’s portrait studies. The chronology compiled by Alice Strobl shows that the model’s face apparently reappears in other works on paper, suggesting that Klimt was especially interested in her facial features. The artist captured the oval relief of the head and its foreshortening by means of only a few strokes and with remarkable confidence, while the corrections around the chin illustrate Klimt’s spontaneous method of drawing.

FS