Sitzende Frau

Executed in delicate red pencil, Sitzende Frau presents a seated female figure whose expressive pose and sharply delineated features reveal Gustav Klimt’s fascination with the psychological and physical presence of his sitters. The woman’s tensely folded arms, the half-closed gaze and the strongly emphasized mouth are marked characteristics, while red pencil distinguishes the drawing from Klimt’s more common graphite studies. Dr. Marian Bisanz-Prakken, who according to her present state of research dates the work to circa 1911, has observed striking affinities with Egon Schiele’s Die Hämische (The Scornful Woman) of 1910, an association also acknowledged by Schiele scholar Jane Kallir in a professional correspondence. Schiele’s portrait of his younger sister Gertrude was reproduced by Arthur Roessler in his first article devoted to the young artist, published in Bildende Künstler in 1911, although Klimt may already have encountered the original in the preceding year of its creation. The comparison offers a compelling glimpse into the artistic dialogue between the established master of the Viennese Secession and his younger contemporary, whose increasingly angular and psychologically charged figuration was beginning to challenge the conventions of Viennese portraiture. Combining the fluidity of Klimt’s draughtsmanship with a more pronounced expressive intensity, Sitzende Frau occupies an intriguing position within his graphic oeuvre at a moment of artistic exchange and experimentation.