0015

This ravishing work of a female model sitting upright with her upper body partly exposed can be assigned to a group of studies that Alice Strobl summarised under the title “Akte und Halbakte 1910” (“Nudes and Semi-Nudes 1910”), most of which – as in this case – have a horizontal format (Strobl II, 1982, nos. 1955-1966; the position seated on the bed is particularly close to nos. 1958 and 1964). Both these and other nude drawings likewise created around 1910 should be regarded as autonomous works, unconnected with existing paintings. Yet, in their subtle or blatant eroticism they are in a sense the prelude to the tireless activity that Klimt as a draftsman was soon to develop in the context of his late major work “The Virgin” (1913).

In this drawing, the focus lies on the vertically erect upper body; Klimt only lightly sketched the patterned robe, which largely conceals the horizontal, apparently slightly bent, legs. The tips of the toes of the outstretched front foot touch the left edge of the paper, thus anchoring the figure in the pictorial space. On the right, by contrast, the picture is dominated by an interplay of ingeniously overlapping body parts and sections of fabric: the upraised, supporting arm, the rounded, obliquely positioned face and the sweeping hair. Klimt brings the lowered strap of the undergarment into play as a light element that contrasts with the rigorous verticality of the arm and reveals the heavy left breast. Thanks to the subtly differentiated lines, each detail of this outstanding work has its own poetry, culminating in the dreamy expression of the face turned towards us, in which the strongly accentuated eyes, the sensually curved mouth and the wide hairstyle irresistibly recall Klimt’s drawn portrait of a lady, dated 1910 (Strobl no. 1963, Museum der Bildenden Künste Leipzig / Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts) – a circumstance that additionally supports our chronological classification.
(Marian Bisanz-Prakken, 2023)