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Male Nude in Gray, Reclining, 1919

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Oil on canvas
78.9×141.9 cm

Artists

  • Anton Kolig

    (Nový Jičín 1886–1950 Nötsch in the Gailtal)

Currently on display at EG
Anton Kolig (1886–1950) was in the south of France with his family when World War I suddenly broke out. After an eventful journey they reached his wife’s home village of Nötsch in Carinthia, where his father-in-law Franz Wiegele (1887–1944) gave him a small studio. However, at first he was not able to use it because he was deployed as a storm trooper to various theaters of war. “I am painting in great distress,” he noted, but his art production never ceased throughout the war. It was only in May 1918 that he was allowed to return to Nötsch as an official war painter in order to create a monumental work for the emperor. However, he never finished it because the war ended first. All the sorrows of war seem to be concentrated in the Reclining Male Nude in Gray. The almost life-size figure is reminiscent of representations of Jesus in the tomb. The sparse color accents in the foreground and background intensify its impression of deathly pallor.

SK, 2019

Object data

Artist/author
Title
Male Nude in Gray, Reclining
Date
1919
Art movement
Expressionism, Nötsch Circle
Category
Painting
Material​/technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
78.9×141.9 cm
Signature
Monogrammed lower left
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 352
Inventory access
Contributed to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994
Selection of Reference works
  • Anton Kolig, hrsg. von Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Köln 2017 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, 22.09.2017-08.01.2018).
  • Wien 1900. Sammlung Leopold, hrsg. von Diethard Leopold/Peter Weinhäupl, Wien u.a. 2009.
  • Otmar Rychlik: Anton Kolig 1886-1950. Das malerische Werk, Wien 2001.
Catalogue raisonne
  • Rychlik 2001: 133
Keywords
nudetransienceman/boylying figure

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Dir. Langer, Wien (1924-1948); (1)
Nachlass Anton Kolig, Nötsch (1950); (2,3)
Katharina Kolig, Nötsch (1950-1971); (3)
Thaddäus Kolig, Vorderberg (1971-1976); (3)
Cornelius Kolig, Villach (1976-1982);
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (1982-1994); (4)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung (1994).

  1. Richard von Schaukal, Anton Kolig, in: Der Cicerone 6, 1925, S. 313; Friedrich Welz, Anton Kolig, Salzburg 1948: Werkverzeichnis, Nr. 86
  2. Othmar Rychlik, Anton Kolig 1886-1950. Das malerische Werk, Wien 2001, S. 100
  3. Archiv des Leopold Museums, E-Mail von Cornelius Kolig an Dr. Franz Smola (LMPS) vom 27.02.2017
  4. Archiv des Leopold Museums, Kaufvertrag vom 01.05.1982

For provenance related information, please contact us.

Search in collection

nudetransienceman/boylying figure