Young Woman in front of a Bird Cage, c. 1907

Born in the Polish city of Sanok, the Jewish artist Broncia Koller-Pinell (1863–1934) received a private art education in her youth, which was financed by her liberal father, seeing as women were denied access to art academies until 1920. In 1885 she started studying at the “Ladies’ Academy” of the Munich Art Association. Koller-Pinell lived for several years in Nuremberg, before she returned to Vienna with her family in 1903. In 1888 she exhibited at the Vienna Künstlerhaus for the first time. This was followed by further exhibitions in Austria and abroad, as well as at Galerie Miethke. In 1905 she was a founding member of the Union of Austrian Artists. In 1908 and 1909 her works featured in the Kunstschau together with exponents of the Klimt Group. Her 1907 rendering Young Woman in front of a Bird Cage shows the back view of a woman. The square painting appears planar and harmonious in its choice of colors. The proximity to her role model Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) is palpable in this depiction. Koller-Pinell reduced the rendering to essentials, using a single color and pastose brushstrokes for the background.

EF, 2021