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'WOMAN IS THE MAJOR CREATION' 18 DRAWINGS BY GUSTAV KLIMT FROM A PRIVATE AUSTRIAN COLLECTOR The private collection of an Austrian collector, the following 18 drawings were bought in 1927 by the grandfather of the present owner from Georg Klimt and have remained in the same family ever since. Georg was one of Gustav Klimt's younger brothers. Both Gustav and Georg visited the School of Applied Arts in Vienna. A metal sculptor, Georg Klimt executed some of the original frames for Klimt's oil paintings, and he later inherited part of his brother's estate from where he sold works from time to time. At his death in 1931, his widow left the remainder of the estate to the Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien. Spanning from 1880 to 1917, this group of drawings is a wonderful example of Klimt's development as a draughtsman and demonstrates his compelling and radical evolution from the academic style taught at the Kunstgewerbeschule to the more open and expressive style of his Secession works. Drawings played a major role in Gustav Klimt's artistic development. From sketches and preparations for oil paintings, to erotic drawings and portraits, the present collection illustrates the full range and depth of Klimt's abilities as a draughtsman. Klimt's talent and brilliance as a draughtsman, however, was widely roecognised only after Klimt's death. During his lifetime, he hardly sold a drawing nor did he exhibit them. Although known for his perpetual sketching and drawing and his need for this essential activity, Klimt was astonishingly nonchalant about these works. The casualness with which he treated them shocked the critic Arthur Roessler when visiting Klimt: 'As I rummaged around in a heap of hundreds of drawings, surrounded by eight or ten mewing and purring cats playfully chasing each other about and making sketches... fly... I asked in surprise why he put up with them ruining hundreds of the most beautiful drawings in this way. With a smirk Klimt replied: 'It doesn't matter if they crumple or tear a few sheets - they piss on others, and, don't you know?, that's the best fixative'.'(A. Roessler, Der Malerkasten, Künstleranekdoten, Vienna, 1924, p. 112). This visit took place before 1904 and it appears that Klimt grew more responsible about his graphic work around 1906. This is around the time when he started using the expensive simili-Japan paper and introduced colour into his drawing. The controversial faculty paintings for which he was commissioned in 1894 - Philosphy, Medicine, Jurisprudence and Law - give excellent examples of how Klimt expressed even the most abstract, and complex ideas through the means of a female body: 'Woman is the major creation' he famously asserted. Klimt, who executed his last male portrait in 1899, almost only painted women and displayed a voyeuristic fascination with woman as 'the Other', which for him became the representation of life. Servaes recalled of his studio and working method: 'Here he was surrounded by mysterious, naked female creatures, who while he stood silent in front of his easel, strolled around his studio, stretching themselves, laying around and making the best of the day - always ready for the command of the master obediently to stand still whenever he caught sight of a pose or a movement that appealed to his sense of beauty and that he would then capture in a rapid drawing.' (quoted in F. Whitford, Artist in Context: Gustav Klimt, London, 1993, p. 117). 'Klimt was conceivable only in Vienna (or) better still in Budapest or Constantinople ...' wrote the Austrian colleague Anton Faistauer after Klimt's death. 'His entire spirituality is oriental. Eros plays a dominant role, his taste for women is almost Turkish... Klimt never looked westwards and with the exception of a journey to Spain and to Paris was never interested in Western culture... Klimt's personality was the same as his work... He loved the good life and peace and quiet like a true oriental and looked like one, too.' (quoted in F. Whitford, ibid., p. 149). THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE AUSTRIAN COLLECTOR

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)

Sitzender Akt von vorne

Details

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)
Sitzender Akt von vorne
signed and inscribed by Georg Klimt 'von Gustav Klimt gezeichnet Georg Klimt' (on the reverse)
blue crayon on simili Japan paper
22 x 14¾in. (56 x 37.3cm.)

Provenance

Georg Klimt (the artist's brother), Vienna.
Acquired from the above by the grandfather of the present owner in 1927.

Literature

A. Strobl, Gustav Klimt, Die Zeichnungen 1878-1918, vol. IV, Salzburg, 1989, no. 3623 (illustrated p. 169).

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

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