Seated Woman in Red Dress (Helene Zarci), 1927

Ferdinand Andri (1871–1956), born in the small Lower-Austrian town of Waidhofen an der Ybbs, went through an apprenticeship as a wood carver before he attended the Vienna Academy for four years. He was a member, and also became president, of the Vienna Secession. He was already considered a successful landscape and portrait painter and had also won recognition as a lithographer and sculptor when he was proposed for a teaching appointment at the Vienna Academy but rejected by Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863–1914) who did not much care for modern art. He only received the post after the end of World War I and kept working there until he was retired in 1939. In this picture, he portrays his neighbor’s daughter, a girl from modest circumstances. Despite her wearing an elegant chiffon dress with transparent sleeves, her insecure posture and timid look convey a sense of the girl’s humble descent. Andri’s paintings are decorative and colorful, as is this portrait.

BL, 2021