Spanish Woman, 1919

Sitting amidst vivaciously applied impasto swirls of color churning across the canvas is a Spanish Woman, painted 1919, with casual elegance, self-confident, in an abstract space of ochre and blue. One hand on her hip, the other one in a pointing gesture, she might as well be shown in the middle of a conversation with another person outside the picture. Comparing this work, for example, with Portrait of Isolde Ahlgrimm (Woman in White Blouse) by Josef Dobrowsky (1889–1964) brings out a typical characteristic of Hans Böhler’s (1884–1961) style even more clearly: Both women are portrayed sitting in similar posture in a room; unlike with most of his contemporaries, Böhler’s portraits radiate, aside from a noble attitude, lightheartedness and joie de vivre.

RR, 2021