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Study for Portrait of Fräulein Lieser: Seated, Viewed from the Front, Knee-Length, 1917

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Pencil on Japanese paper
49.9×32.3 cm

Artists

  • Gustav Klimt

    (Baumgarten near Vienna 1862–1918 Vienna)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
The drawing is one of twenty-four known studies for Gustav Klimt’s (1862–1918) unfinished Portrait of Fräulein Lieser, long believed to depict Margarethe Constanze Lieser. Current research, however, suggests that the sitter is one of the two daughters of the art patron Henriette “Lilly” Lieser (1875–1943), who was murdered in Auschwitz—most likely the elder daughter, Helene (1898–1962), the first Austrian woman to earn a doctorate in political science, who later worked on behalf of victims of the Nazi regime. The studies were probably executed between April and May 1917, when, according to Klimt’s sketchbook, the sitter visited his studio. In addition to floral ornaments referring to the floral pattern of the dress, only partially executed in the painting, the sitter’s characteristically bold contoured eyebrows are already defined.

Text Leopold Museum

Object data

Artist/author
  • Gustav Klimt
Title
Study for Portrait of Fräulein Lieser: Seated, Viewed from the Front, Knee-Length
Date
1917
Art movement
Art Nouveau, Symbolism
Category
Graphic work
Material​/technique
Pencil on Japanese paper
Dimensions
49.9×32.3 cm
Signature
Signatur ENG: Stamp (faded) lower right: GUSTAV KLIMT NACHLASS
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 1340
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)
  • Wien 1900. Aufbruch in die Moderne, hrsg. von Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Wien 2019 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, ab 15.03.2019).
  • 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).
  • Alice Strobl: Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen 1912-1918, Salzburg 1984.
Catalogue raisonne
  • Strobl Bd. 3/1984: 2603
Keywords
woman/girlsitting figure (fem.)scarfMargarethe Constance Lieser

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Nachlass Gustav Klimt, Wien (1918); (1)
Helene Donner, Wien (o.D.);
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (1957-1994); (2)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (1994).

  1. Nachlass-Stempel »GUSTAV / KLIMT / NACHLASS« vorne rechts unten
  2. Sonja Niederacher, Dossier zu Gustav Klimt. 26 Zeichnungen aus dem Eigentum von Helene Donner, 31.01.2018; Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Katalog zu: Gustav Klimt. 1862-1918. Zeichnungen, Gedächtnisausstellung 16. Oktober bis 16. Dezember 1962, Wien 1962, Nr. 184

For provenance related information, please contact us.

Search in collection

woman/girlsitting figure (fem.)scarfMargarethe Constance Lieser

2023/2024 Partial funding for digitization by BMWKMS „Kulturerbe digital“ as part of NextGenerationEU.