The Mandolin Player

Born in Düsseldorf, Kiesel received his initial tutoring from the famed sculptor Fritz Schaper at his Berlin atelier. Kiesel's subsequent career was split between Munich and Berlin where he established a formidable reputation for himself both as a sculptor and a painter. As a member of the Berlin Academy from 1892, he was noted for his portraits and genre paintings, the latter often based upon the perceived exoticism of Eastern peoples. The present work, of which there are a few replicas in existence, is one of Kiesel's most highly esteemed and famed compositions. Although the painting represents a slightly sanitized view of a harem, as Kiesel never actually traveled to the East, it still retains a considerable erotic charge in the sensual pose of the sitter, heightened by the lavish and luxurious decorations surrounding her.