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Lot 328
  • 328

Gustav Klimt

Estimate
150,000 - 250,000 GBP
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Description

  • Gustav Klimt
  • BILDNIS EINER FRAU (PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN)
  • inscribed Hermine Klimt and Nachlass meines Bruders Gustav by the artist's sister (lower right)
  • pencil on paper
  • 57 by 37.2cm., 22 3/8 by 14 5/8 in.

Provenance

Estate of the artist
Private Collection, New York (acquired from the above circa 1925; sale: Sotheby's, New York, 10th November 2000, lot 237)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Condition

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, hinged to the mount on the reverse of the top two corners, floating in the mount. Apart from some light time staining to the sheet, some discolouration at the edges, due to previous mounting, and some slight handling creases, this work is in good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

This exquisite pencil drawing executed by Klimt around 1916 depicts a beautiful, unnamed female sitter, her chin resting on her right hand and her long hair framing her face. She is an archetypal Klimtian figure, with her strong eyes overarching a voluptuous gaze and her demeanour evoking quiet grace and assurance. The compositional arrangement and the execution of the drawing hint at a latent Jugendstil idiom, particularly in the patterning evident in the hair and the sitter's dress.

Regine Schmidt wrote of Klimt's treatment of the female form and its centrality to his entire output as an artist: 'Gustav Klimt's work was and is such that one can lose oneself in it. His women, ladies and girls are mere forms of nature itself, flowers, as it were, that he drew and painted as they budded, blossomed and withered. [...] Like the later work of Franz Wiegele, his œuvre is a constant homage to woman. To Klimt, they were erotic creatures' (R. Schmidt, 'Of Sweet Young Things and Femmes Fatales: Gustav Klimt and Women around 1900. A Path to Freedom', in Gerbert Frodl & Tobias G. Natter (ed.), Klimt's Women,  Yale Un🌠iversity Press♏, 2000, pp. 27 & 30).