This is one of a series of drawings that Klimt created in around 1915 of Trude Flöge (1907–1971). She was the daughter of Hermann Flöge, who was the brother of Emilie Flöge, Gustav Klimt’s lifelong companion. According to Alice Strobl, the drawn half-length portraits of the young Trude were not preliminary studies for a painting but autonomous works – possibly a souvenir of a stay at Hermann Flöge’s house in Seewalchen.1
At every stage of his development as an artist, Klimt was a precise observer and brilliant depicter of children, whether this was in the context of his life allegories or for portrait commissions. The girl’s round face, viewed from the front, was the type preferred by Klimt at this time, as exemplified in his studies for the portrait of Friederike Beer-Monti (1916). In spite of the iconic symmetry, which actually contradicts the child-like character, the portrait does not seem frozen in any way. Within the strict structure Klimt uses very dynamic pencil strokes, ranging from the loosely sketched clothes to the dark eyes with their intense gaze. The shining, lucid child’s gaze arose from the oscillation between pale and dark nuances of grey and also incorporated the light tone of the paper. These almost painterly effects can be ascribed to the pencil strokes ranging from delicately light to richly dark tones. Klimt used a very soft pencil and he brilliantly mastered the opportunities for variation this provided, especially in later years.

Marian Bisanz-Prakken

1 Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt, Die Zeichnungen, vol. III (Salzburg 1984), 129, with a reference to the photos showing Klimt playing with the young girl.