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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/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, 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.)

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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 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

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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.)