Gustav Klimt

Bloch Bauer family, Vienna (acquired from the artist circa 1910)
(Probably) Karl Bloch-Bauer, Vienna & Vancouver (one of 159 Klimt drawings exported from Vienna on May 3, 1948)
Sale: Sotheby's, London, March 26, 1986, lot 332
Acquired at the above sale by A. Alfred Taubman

Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt, Die Zeichnungen Nachtrag 1878-1918, vol. IV, Salzburg, 1989, no. 3502, illustrated p. 129

Executed on buff colored wove paper, not laid down. Sheet is hinged to a mount at two places at top edge on verso. Upper and left edge are slightly irregular. Remnants of old framer's tape on the top edge on verso. Faint mat stain at top, left and right edge. Some scattered faint flattened creases to the sheet mostly towards the upper edge and running diagonally across the upper left corner. Otherwise, apart from a very few scattered spots of the foxing this work is in good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Adele Bloch-Bauer—among the most famous models in the history of art—was the wife of industrialist Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer. Her husband commissioned two portraits from Klimt providing the only instance of Klimt painting a sitter on more than one occasion. The first of these paintings, finished in 1907, marks the height of the artist’s ‘golden style’ and has subsequently come to be considered an iconic work. In the painting Adele is pictured seated, amid a field of gold. In the second painting, Klimt attempted something different, showing his model standing, and although the decorative aesthetic for which Klimt was so revered remains, the painting achieves a new ‘naturalism’ in comparison with the first portrait.  

Klimt began preparing for the first portrait as early as 1903, producing a number of preliminary studies that show Adele with a variety of expressions, postures and costumes. Adele has often been characterized as a restless spirit; an intelligent and intellectual woman frustrated by the restrictions that society placed upon her. This was something that Klimt was able to capture; as Tobias G. Natter explains, writing about the first portrait: “The picture suggests not only Adele Bloch-Bauer’s restlessness and her denial of society’s expectation, but also the element of conflict within the gender role” (Tobias G. Natter, in Klimt’s Women (exhibition catalogue), Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, 2000-01, p. 116). This is evident in the present work where—showing her relaxed and leaning back in her chair—Klimt succeeds in capturing a sense of her irrepressible spirit.