Skip to content
ONLINECOLLECTION
Search

Seated Female Nude Leaning Forward. Study for Leda, 1913/14

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Pencil on Japanese paper
56.6×37.3 cm

Artists

  • Gustav Klimt

    (Baumgarten near Vienna 1862–1918 Vienna)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) addressed the subject of Leda, which would become the motif of his 1917 eponymous painting, in a series of studies already in 1913/14. These studies trace the figure’s transition from a type known as Venus Callipyge, depicted with her back to the beholder, to a kneeling-cowering nude in explicit profile view. The present work from the Leopold Museum corresponds – like the work Female Semi-Nude from the Right in Kneeling-Cowering Position – to this second type, though in this work, the nude is shown in a seated rather than a kneeling position. The quickly jotted down contours reveal the depiction’s highly sketch-like character.

FS

Object data

Artist/author
  • Gustav Klimt
Title
Seated Female Nude Leaning Forward. Study for Leda
Date
1913/14
Art movement
Art Nouveau, Symbolism
Category
Graphic work
Material​/technique
Pencil on Japanese paper
Dimensions
56.6×37.3 cm
Signature
Stamp (black) lower left: GUSTAV KLIMT NACHLASS
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 1356
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: 2356
Keywords
woman/girlnudethe (nude) human figure (fem.)sitting figure (fem.)squatting/crouching figure (fem.)head held in a hand, elbows leaning on elevation/kneeshead turned sideways (fem.)

If you have further information on this object, please contact us.

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 links 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. 230

For provenance related information, please contact us.

Search in collection

woman/girlnudethe (nude) human figure (fem.)sitting figure (fem.)squatting/crouching figure (fem.)head held in a hand, elbows leaning on elevation/kneeshead 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.