In around 1910, Klimt also changed the type of woman he preferred to draw. This model, drawn in blue crayon, takes up the whole seat in a provocative, widely spread pose. From an abstract point of view, the interlocking forms result in a tense interaction between patterned and empty planes. Klimt emphasizes the realistic, even anti-aesthetic sides of his model in succinct outlines; the woman scrutinizes her viewer with a challenging gaze. This drawing follows on from a group of studies showing crouching female figures with tilted heads positioned on ‘islands’ and representing grief. These studies were created in the context of the painting Death and Life (Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt: Die Zeichnungen. 1904–1912, vol. II [Salzburg 1982], cat. rais. nos. 1819–1863).

Marian Bisanz-Prakken

Literature: Alice Strobl: Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen. Nachtrag. 1878 - 1918. Vol. IV. Verlag Galerie Welz. Salzburg 1989, p. 168f, cat. rais. no. 3623.