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Lot Essay
Alice Strobl relates the present work to the series of preparatory drawings for Die Tänzerin (N. and D. no. 208), Damenbildnis (N. and D. no. 209), and also to the Bildnis Baronin Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt (N. and D. no. 188). These finished paintings of the Lederer family (Ria Munk was Elisabeth Lederer's aunt) date from 1914-1918 and the drawings here (see Lot 4) are among the most elaborate and complete preparatory works, each of which illustrate Klimt's rigorous elemental shaping of details before committing to a final idea. Indeed, each drawing suggests a new possibility of gesture, fabric, expression and each trial yielded usable results which Klimt then applied as appropriate in later paintings. These bust drawings, however, demonstrate the conviction and personality of Klimt's full-length portraits in their own right while their closeness and informality convey an intimacy and connection that more formal paintings necessarily restrict.
The effect of the beautiful neck-line of Elisabeth Lederer's spectacular portrait gown is recognizable in the present work. But this detail is one of many that Klimt arrived at over time by pursuing new variations on his own established themes. In her entertaining account of the protracted and involved project of sitting for her portrait, Elizabeth Lederer describes the artist in his studio: "Months passed with making drawings in various positions. Uncle cursed and swore, it was a real pleasure to listen to him. Several times, he threw the pencil away and said that he should never paint people who are too close. Then Mama came in and a quarrel flared up about position, toilette, etc. Sometimes the differences assumed quite serious forms and he shouted in his deep majestic bass: 'I shall paint my girl as I like her and that's the end of it.' In the course of three years he changed his concept over and over again, and these were the most pleasant and most instructive hours of my life. He would have changed it once more were it not for my mother who one day seized the picture, loaded it onto the car, and kidnapped it. When he saw it at home he said: 'Now it is even less her!'" (quoted in T. Natter, Klimt's Women , New Haven, 2000, pp. 133-134)
Klimt was not actually Elisabeth Lederer's uncle, nor her father as she testified in 1940 to evade certain persecution, but he became a family friend who, along with Egon Schiele, prominently represented contemporary art in their private collection (fig. 1). She was however, an avid sculpture student herself, and her talent was fostered and encouraged by her 'uncle', as it had been in her mother, Serena, before her when she studied with Klimt. Despite his protests, the closeness between Klimt and the Lederer family, could only have inspired the artist, evincing this rare, genial engagement between sitter and artist.
The effect of the beautiful neck-line of Elisabeth Lederer's spectacular portrait gown is recognizable in the present work. But this detail is one of many that Klimt arrived at over time by pursuing new variations on his own established themes. In her entertaining account of the protracted and involved project of sitting for her portrait, Elizabeth Lederer describes the artist in his studio: "Months passed with making drawings in various positions. Uncle cursed and swore, it was a real pleasure to listen to him. Several times, he threw the pencil away and said that he should never paint people who are too close. Then Mama came in and a quarrel flared up about position, toilette, etc. Sometimes the differences assumed quite serious forms and he shouted in his deep majestic bass: 'I shall paint my girl as I like her and that's the end of it.' In the course of three years he changed his concept over and over again, and these were the most pleasant and most instructive hours of my life. He would have changed it once more were it not for my mother who one day seized the picture, loaded it onto the car, and kidnapped it. When he saw it at home he said: 'Now it is even less her!'" (quoted in T. Natter, Klimt's Women , New Haven, 2000, pp. 133-134)
Klimt was not actually Elisabeth Lederer's uncle, nor her father as she testified in 1940 to evade certain persecution, but he became a family friend who, along with Egon Schiele, prominently represented contemporary art in their private collection (fig. 1). She was however, an avid sculpture student herself, and her talent was fostered and encouraged by her 'uncle', as it had been in her mother, Serena, before her when she studied with Klimt. Despite his protests, the closeness between Klimt and the Lederer family, could only have inspired the artist, evincing this rare, genial engagement between sitter and artist.