Girl in Front of the Mirror, 1931

Sergius Pauser (1896–1970) is a major representative of New Objectivity and Magic Realism in Vienna. Born in Munich, the painter became a member of the Vienna Secession in 1927. Pauser is most convincing in the portrait and still life genres with a spare, almost austere pictorial language. The inner world, human sensibilities, interested him more than the sober description of the factual, however; an example of this is Girl in Front of the Mirror. The Austrian author Thomas Bernhard (1931–1989) described his friend as a “discoverer of the most hidden sensitivities of the poetical.” The picture emanates the impression of great calm and equilibrium, supported in this by the interior. Although the girl combs her hair, the movement appears completed: the pose freezes, as if motionless.

AM, 2019