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GUSTAV KLIMT
Wien 1862 – 1918 Wien 		BIOGRAPHY   |   FURTHER WORKS
 
SEATED FIGURE SEEN FROM THE FRONT, 1917/18
Pencil on thin vellum paper, 559 x 470 mm
Study for the painting Portrait of a Woman Seen from the Front 1917/18 (Novotny-Dobai no. 212)
Signed (lower left in the oval): Gustav Klimt
Provenance: Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York
Exhibitions: Gustav Klimt, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo 1981, no. 100. – Gustav Klimt: 100 Zeichnungen, Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome 1983; Palazzo della Permanente, Milan 1984; Castel Mareccio/Schloss Maretsch, Bolzano/Bozen 1984; Josef Albers Museum/ Quadrat Bottrop, Bottrop 1985; Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence 1986; Accademia di Belle Arti, Naples 1986; Castello Ivano, Trento 1986, no. 95; Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny 1986–1987; Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck 1987; Schloss Plankenwarth, Graz 1987, no. 95; Jahrhunderthalle Hoechst, Hoechst/Frankfurt 1990; Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren 1991; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv 1992, no. 89; Palazzo Strozzi, Florence 1992; Palacu Sztuki, Krakow 1992; Städtische Galerie Lovis Kabinett, Villingen-Schwenningen 1992, no. 89; Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC 1993; Museum moderner Kunst, Passau 1994; Musée-Galerie de la Seita, Paris 1994; Císaiská konírna, Prague 1995; Mittelrhein Museum Koblenz, Koblenz 1996; Städtische Galerie Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt 1997, no. 89. – Gustav Klimt: Zeichnungen aus amerikanischem Privatbesitz ausgewählt von Serge Sabarsky und aus Beständen des Historischen Museums der Stadt Wien, Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Vienna 1984; Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover 1984; Museum Villa Stuck, Munich 1984 – 1985; Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz/Wolfgang-Gurlitt- Museum, Linz 1985, no. 91. – Gustav Klimt (exhibited with Egon Schiele), Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny 1986–1987, no. 95. – Europalia 87 Österreich: Gustav Klimt, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels 1987, no. 103. – Gustav Klimt: 1862-1918, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, NY 1989. – Gustav Klimt: The Ronald S. Lauder and Serge Sabarsky Collections, Neue Galerie, New York 2008, no. D 122, fig. p. 352.		 BACK
   

This drawing of a frontal, seated woman dressed in her street attire appears less formal than the majestic, aloof studies for commissioned portraits. It is a planar depiction concentrating on outline and accordingly the left leg, casually posed on the right thigh, only emerges on closer scrutiny; the bulge of the knee is defined beneath the clothing. This drawing is one of the studies for a painted bust portrait of an unknown woman that was never completed (1917/18, Lentos, Kunstmuseum Linz). In the painting the facial features have been rendered in detail, but the shoulders have only been indicated by cursory brush strokes. In the depiction of the model’s rigidly frontal pose and the fur wrap symmetrically framing her face this drawing closely corresponds with the oil painting. Even at this preliminary stage, Klimt has emphasized the heavily made-up, staring eyes with bold eyebrows, the pronounced cheekbones and the dark, distinctive mouth; the hair and hat have been rendered in detail. In this remarkable study the importance he attached to the chest area and its attire is already clearly apparent.

Marian Bisanz-Prakken
Literature: Alice Strobl: Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen 1912 – 1918. Vol. III. Salzburg 1984, p. 140, ill. p. 141, cat. rais. no. 2665. – Serge Sabarsky: Gustav Klimt Drawings. Mount Kisco, NY, 1983. Milan, 1983. London, 1984. Berlin and Vienna, 1984, no. 95. - Rene Price: Gustav Klimt. The Ronald S. Lauder and Serge Sabarsky Collections. exh. cat. Neue Galerie New York, Prestel Verlag 2007, ill. p. 352, no. D122. - Fundación Mapfre. Instituto de Cultura: Mujeres. Klimt. 1862-1918. exh. cat. Madrid 2006, p. 168, no. 91.