Pencil drawing.
Strobl 2689. Inscribed "Nachlaß Gustav Klimt ZimpelGustav [Gustav Zimpel, the artist's nephew, 1904-1954] on the reverse, presumably by Gustav Zimpel. Inscribed "Feri" on the reverse, presumably by a hand other than that of the artist. On fine off-white Japan. 57 x 37.5 cm. , size of sheet. [CH].

• Consistent provenance.
• Works from this late creative period testify to an extraordinary artistic development in the field of graphic art.
• The present work was not made in preparation for a painting, Klimt conceived it as a fully independent work of art.
• With delicate, almost playful strokes, Klimt shows the sitter completely introverted, with her gaze lowered, and gives her an almost melancholic expressiveness characterized by a balanced calm and deep concentration.
• Comparable works are at important museums like the Albertina in Vienna, the Kunsthaus Zurich, the Kunstmuseum Bern, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig.
The work will be included into the online catalogue raisonné of Gustav Klimt's drawing, compiled by Dr. Elisabeth Dutz, Albertina, Vienna.
LITERATURE: Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen, vol. III (1912-1918), Salzburg 1984, cat. no. 2689, pp. 144f. (with illu.). C. G. Boerner, Düsseldorf, Gustav Klimt. Zeichnungen aus Privatbesitz, October 1987, lot 48 (with full-page illu.). .

Gustav Klimt 1862-1918, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn (NY), June 2 - October 14, 1989. Gustav Klimt. 100 Zeichnungen, Jahrhunderthalle, Hoechst/Frankfurt am Main, October 1 - November 25, 1990, Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren, January 27 - March 10, 1991, cat. no. 75. Gustav Klimt, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, December 1, 1991 to March 16, 1992, cat. no. 89. Gustav Klimt. 100 Drawings, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, April 14 - May 27, 1992. Gustav Klimt, Palacu Sztuki, Cracow, June 9 - July 12, 1992. Gustav Klimt. 100 Zeichnungen, Städtische Galerie Lovis-Kabinett, Villingen-Schwenningen, July 25 - September 27, 1992, cat. no. 75. Gustav Klimt. 100 Drawings, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston (SC), May 28 - June 13, 1993. Gustav Klimt. 100 Zeichnungen, Museum moderner Kunst, Passau, June 12 - August 28, 1994, cat. no. 75. Gustav Klimt. Dessins, Musée-Galerie de la Seita, Paris, October 5 - November 30, 1994, cat. no. 75. Gustav Klimt. 100 kreseb, Císaiská konírna, Prague, May 24 - July 23, 1995, cat. no. 75. Gustav Klimt. 100 Zeichnungen, Mittelrhein Museum, Koblenz, June 12 - August 31, 1996; Städtische Galerie, Klagenfurt, May 22 - September 21, 1997, cat. no. 75

Artist's estate (inscribed by Gustav Zimpel, the artist's nephew, on the reverse). Gustav Zimpel, Vienna (obtained from the above). Ferdinand Eckhardt Collection (1876-1952), Vienna (acquired from the above). Ferdinand Eckhardt jun Collection. (1902-1995), Vienna, from 1953 Winnipeg/Canada (inherited from the above in 1952). Serge Sabarsky Collection (1912-1996), New York (acquired from the above in 1987, C. G. Boerner, Okt. 1987). Serge Sabarsky Estate, New York (1996). Vally Sabarsky Collection (1909-2002), New York. Vally Sabarsky Foundation, New York

The majority of Gustav Klimt's drawings were made in preparation of paintings. Although this classification is subject to transitions in Klimt's oeuvre, he made drawings around 1916/17 in particular, like the present work, that cannot be assigned to a specific portrait, and which must be understood as independent artworks. There was an ambition in the Vienna art scene of these days to give modern graphic works a rank that corresponded to their artistic value independent from painting and sculpture. In 1913, for example, Klimt was represented with more than 100 drawings at the "Internationale Schwarz-Weiß-Ausstellung" (International Black and White Exhibition) in Vienna, curated by the Academic Association for Literature and Music, which exclusively showed drawings that were not made in preparation of paintings or sculptures. Despite their independence, these autonomous drawings, like the work offered here, helped the artist to concretize a specific pictorial theme. Especially in later drawings, Klimt increasingly put focus on the psychological expression of the sitter, which becomes also obvious in this sheet with an almost melancholic expressiveness in the deep concentration and introspection of the young woman with her eyes lowered. Klimt’s drawings from this creative phase are also characterized by a certain "painterly quality". Klimt formed the contour lines of his expressive figurative forms with delicate, almost playful strokes, short curved and juxtaposed lines, creating a representation with an almost flickering rhythm and liveliness. He attained an entirely unique, new style of drawing, which would even have an effect on his painterly oeuvre in these years. Unlike Schiele, he always remained true to the classic concept of beauty and did not use any artistic deformation or alienation for his figure compositions. Especially in the last decade of his life, Gustav Klimt's drawings play an important role in his artistic work and testify to the perfection of his mastery in this field. In the introductory text to her catalogue raisonné of Gustav Klimt's drawings, Alice Strobl wrote about Klimt's later creative phase: "It was primarily Klimt's late sheets that made for his world fame as a graphic artist." (Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen, vol. III (1912-1918), Salzburg 1984, p. 7). [CH]

Neatly executed portrait. Sheet margins just very slightly discolored and with faint isolated handling marks and small kinks in right margin. A small crimped spot in the sheet's upper margin. Mounting in both upper corners slightly pushing through to recto (largely visible in sided light).