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The two drawings by Gustav Klimt offered here under cat. nno. 425 and 426 were once part of the collection of sanatorium owner Anton Löw (1847-1907), for whom Klimt also painted the wonderful portrait of his daughter Gertrude in 1902. Gerta (1883-1964) married the entrepreneur Johann Arthur Eisler von Terramare (1878-1938) in 1903. As part of her trousseau, Gerta received - in addition to the portrait commissioned by her father from Klimt - six early drawings by Klimt with depictions of beautiful ladies, including "Bust portrait of a lady in profile turned to the right" (cat. no. 425) and " Bust portrait of a lady from the front" (cat. no. 426).
Koloman Moser was responsible for the interior design of the apartment of the young couple Gerta Löw and Hans Eisler von Terramare. A photograph published in 1903/04 in the magazine "Dekorative Kunst" (En: Decorative Art) gives an impression of the interior designed by Kolo Moser: two Klimt drawings hang on the wall in frames specially designed by Moser, whereby the work of art on the left can be identified as "Bust portrait of a lady in profile turned to the right" (cat. no. 425). Gerta Löw's first marriage lasted only three years and was dissolved shortly after her little daughter died in 1903 at the age of two. The works of Gustav Klimt remained the property of Gerta. In 1912 Gerta married the industrialist Elemér (Baruch of) Felsövanyi (1882-1923). After the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany, the Felsövanyi family was forced to emigrate because of their Jewish origin. Gerta fled to Belgium in 1939 and later emigrated to the USA. At Gerta's request, the assets remaining in Vienna were to be taken care of by an acquaintance who, however, appropriated and sold the Felsövanyi art collection.
Thus the Klimt drawings came into the possession of Gustav Ucicky (1899-1961), the first illegitimate son of Gustav Klimt and his model Maria Ucicka, around 1941. Gustav Ucicky, who made a career as one of the leading propaganda directors during the Nazi era, married Ursula Kohn in 1957. In 1961 Ursula Ucicky inherited from her husband Gustav his large art collection, which our two Klimt sheets were part of. In 2013, she contributed the works of art to the Klimt-Foundation, which she founded, with the condition of exploring their provenance and seeking an agreement with Gerta Felsövanyi's heirs.
The Foundation and the heirs of Gertrud Löw-Felsövanyi decided to appoint an independent arbitral tribunal, which recommended restitution of the works of art. On the basis of this recommendation, the Foundation returned to the heirs, among other things, the two works of art that we can now sell at auction.
(Claudia Mörth-Gasser and Ernst Ploil)