(Vienna 1860–1948)
“Marionetten” (Puppets), signed and dated M. LENZ Wien 1910, on the stretcher signed M LENZ, oil on canvas, 100 x 180 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private Collection, Austria

Literature:
Kunst für Alle, XXV. Jahrgang, 17. Heft, 1910, p. 7, Abb. (with the second hand)
Hella Buchner-Kopper, Maximilian Lenz. Ein Maler im Licht / Schatten Gustav Klimts, Diss. Univ. Klagenfurt, 2001, p. 134, ill. 133

Exhibition:
Secession, Wien, XXVIII. Ausstellung der Vereinigung bildender Künstler, Vienna 1907, cat. no. 132 („Marionetten“, no ill.)
Secession, Wien XXXVI. Ausstellung  der Vereinigung bildender Künstler, April – June, Vienna 1910 , cat. no. 61, ill. (with the second hand)
Nürnberg, Galerie Würthle, „Wien um 1900, 1995, catalogue with ill. (without the second hand) and dated 1914

In Buchner-Kopper's dissertation, the painting “Marionetten” (“Puppets”) is illustrated three times, whereby the last illustration from the Nuremberg catalog of 1995 is listed as a separate version. However, this is a reworking of the first version, probably from around 1914 as dated in the catalog, in which the second hand on the tapestry was painted over by the artist.

We are grateful to Dr. Hansjörg Krug for his help in cataloguing this work.

In 1907 and 1910, Maximilian Lenz exhibited at the Secession Vienna together with his long-time student Ida Kupelwieser. In addition to landscapes and flower pictures, the picture “Marionetten” stood out with its complex, quite erotic symbolism. A theme that he will repeat several times, as he did in 1914.
It is assumed that the lying beauty is Ida Kupelwieser, who was for a long time unattainable for a love affair or a close liaison for the painter due to her social position as a wealthy entrepreneur’s daughter. The picture can therefore be interpreted as a dream of the painter, who depicts himself on the lower right as a fool, the only figure not hanging by a thread, who watches longingly as the beauty extends her hand to the prince doll. Only years later, in 1926, he would marry Ida just a few months before her death and would finally become the “prince”. (Buchner-Kopper, 2001, p. 134)