(Vienna 1862–1918)
Liegender Halbakt nach rechts, mit angezogenem rechten Oberschenkel (Reclining half-nude to the right, with right thigh pulled up), c. 1912/1913, estate stamp, on the reverse numbered twice 112 and faintly legible inscribed 2851, blue and red colored pencil on paper, 37 x 56 cm

Alice Strobl notes that the small numbers in pencil, as here “2851” were used as “Zählnummern” (counting numbers) for Gustav Klimt's estate, cf. Strobl, IV, p. 221.

Listed and illustrated:
Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen 1913–1918, Verlag der Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1982, vol. III, no. 2313, ill. p. 55

Provenance:
August (1857–1936) und Serena (1867–1943) Lederer, Vienna
Erich Lederer (1896–1985), Vienna & Geneva until after 1982
Private Collection, Austria

Literature:
H. H. Hofstätter, Gustav Klimt. Erotische Zeichnungen, Louisa Seilern (ed.), Cologne 1979, no. 23, color ill. 22

We are grateful to Dr. Marian Bisanz-Prakken for examining this work in the original and for her help in cataloguing the work.


As a unique draughtsman of the human figure, Gustav Klimt moved between two poles in all phases of his work. On the one hand, it was very important to him to subordinate the poses and gestures of the sitters to an invisible geometric structure. On the other hand, he strove to capture the sensual appearance of those posing for him as concise as possible by means of accurate outlines.

In the present drawing, created in 1912/13 and not connected to any particular painting, Klimt seems to have intentionally taken these poles to the extreme. The sheet, executed in blue colored pencil and enlivened by red accents, shows a model bent forward, whose bare buttocks facing us dominate the depiction together with her thighs. Amidst the swirl of wildly patterned pieces of fabric, this powerful, strongly outlined body part stands out all the more.

At the same time, the thighs, positioned at right angles, reveal the naked sex (possibly as a reference to the mysterious origin of human life). In this ecstatic line work, bold eroticism and extreme geometric discipline meet in an incomparable way.

(Marian Bisanz-Prakken)