Bust Portrait of a Lady in Half Profile from the Right, c. 1915

While the present portrait drawing was not included in Alice Strobl’s catalogue raisonné, it can be regarded without a doubt as a work by Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) owing to the nature of its depiction. Elements such as the type of face of the model, the hair gathered at the neck with the few loose waves around the temples, and the incredibly precise contours reinforced in places by repeated strokes, correspond to the group of works that Strobl subsumed under the heading “Bust Portraits from around 1915”. As in the works from this group, in this study, too, the model’s clothed upper body is merely hinted at with few lines. The drawing features a harmoniously positioned block signature by Klimt, which suggests that the artist had found a buyer for this work.

FS