Richard Gerstl

Neue Galerie, Vienna (acquired from the family of the artist in the 1930’s, inventory number 34)
Galerie Würthle, Vienna (acquired from the above circa 1954)
Dr. Rudolph Leopold, Zurich (acquired from the above)
Acquired from the above by A. Alfred Taubman in November 1985

Venice, Biennale di Venezia, 1984, no. 301
Vienna, Kunstforum Wien & Zurich, Kunsthaus Zurich, Austellung Richard Gerstl 1883-1908, 1993-94, no. 12

Jean Clair, ed., Vienne 1880-1938: L'Apocalypse joyeuse (exhibition catalogue), Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1986, illustrated p. 459

This work is in good condition. The canvas is lined and strip lined and gently undulates. The surface is clean and richly textured. Thinly varnished. There are a few tiny specks of paint loss: in the dark blue pigment towards lower left corner and along the figure's proper left arm and towards the center of the right edge. Some stable hairline craquelure in the upper right corner and towards the center of the upper edge. Under UV light: some original pigments fluoresce. A few small areas of inpainting to the background at upper left and along the upper edge. Some faint fluorescence to the figure's face which does not appear to be retouching, otherwise fine.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Dame mit Federhut is a stunning and rare example of the work of Richard Gerstl. Born into a prosperous Austrian family in 1883, Gerstl's work defied the boundaries and measures of the world in which he found himself. Gerstl had difficulties with formal education; as a boy he was moved to private school and left various studios in the Vienna Akademie der bildenden Künste not once but twice. Often at odds with other visual artists in Vienna, Gerstl found himself most at home with musicians, becoming close friends with Arnold Schönberg. Their association is illuminated by Jane Kallir who writes, "It does not seem altogether unlikely that Gerstl and Schönberg, who had lengthy discussions of aesthetic theory, influenced each other's approach to art. The notion of painting and music as kindred forms of expression was to gain currency with the German Expressionists. It was, in fact, a logical extension of the Romantic search for spiritualism in art. As visual subject matter becomes  more esoteric and conceptual, it assumes an abstract communicative purpose similar to that of music... As Schönberg struggled to free musical composition from conventional tonal structure, so did Gerstl, flying in the face of all that was considered proper, strip painting down to an emotive core" (Jane Kallir, Austria's Expressionism (exhibition catalogue), Galerie St. Etienne, New York, 1981, p. 28).

The close association between Schönberg and Gerstl however was sadly not to last. After a second shared summer holiday with the Schönberg family, Gerstl and Schönberg's wife Mathilde ran off together to Vienna; her subsequent return to her husband and children proved too much for Gerstl who committed suicide at the age of twenty-five in November 1908, but not before destroying his papers and the majority of his art work. The paintings and drawings left behind were stored by his family for over twenty years until his brother Alois Gerstl approached Otto Kallir in 1931. Upon seeing the body of work, Otto Kallir hosted an exhibition of Gerstl's works, the first of its kind, and acquired the majority of the artist's estate from his family. Dame mit Federhut is one of fewer than 100 works of Gerstl's to survive to the present day and both beautifully and forcefully evokes the talent of its brilliant creator.