Lot 249
  • 249

GUSTAV KLIMT | Kauernder Halbakt in rückenansicht nach Rechts (Semi-nude Crouching Down Seen from the Back and Turned to the Right)

Estimate
100,000 - 150,000 USD
bidding is closed

Description

  • Gustav Klimt
  • Kauernder Halbakt in rückenansicht nach Rechts (Semi-nude Crouching Down Seen from the Back and Turned to the Right)
  • Stamped with the Nachlass mark (lower right)
  • Blue pencil on paper
  • 22 by 14 5/8 in.
  • 56 by 37 cm
  • Executed circa 1917-18.

Provenance

Annemarie Düringer, Vienna (acquired circa 1970s and sold by the estate: Sotheby's, London, June 25, 2015, lot 524)
Acquired at the above sale 

Exhibited

Vienna, Christian M. Nebehay Company, Gustav Klimt, 56 Zeichnungen, 1967, no. 56, illustrated in the catalogue

Literature

Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt, Die Zeichnungen 1912-1918, vol. III, Salzburg, 1984, no. 3015, illustrated p. 221

Condition

Executed on cream wove paper. The sheet is hinged at all four corners of its verso. The sheet is slightly time-struck. There are a couple of handling creases near the upper right corner along the top edge. There are a few very minor scattered spots of foxing. The sheet is in overall very good condition.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

In contrast to Klimt's earlier renditions of the female nude, the present depiction bears signs of his artistic sophistication and maturity of style. Explicitly erotic, without any assigned narrative, the model is presented as the viewer's object of desire. At the same time, the sitter's pose reflects the sharpness of the artist's eye as well as his natural sense of draftsmanship. Of these drawings, Rainer Metzger notes, "Klimt gives pride of his own gaze, the gaze of the artist and expert, the male and the master which is directed at the woman that he sketches. Accordingly, these women do not return the gaze... Klimt became nothing but an eye, nothing but a hand, purely from the feeling that moved and enraptured him, was in love with the nature of his subject and he let himself be carried away without restraint" (Rainer Metzger, Gustav Klimt, Drawings and Watercolours, London, 2005, p. 207).