Portrait of a Lady

In 1897, Gustav Klimt cofounded (and served as president of) the Vienna Secession, a group of artists that stood in opposition to prevailing academic trends and official art circles. Although the erotic nature of much of Klimt's art garnered him numerous unfavorable reviews, his works today are appreciated for their mixture of often sensuous themes and striking use of gold and silver leaf and other precious materials alongside areas of bright color.

Between 1896 and 1898, Klimt created numerous portrait drawings as independent works of art, most of which depict the sitter in profile. In March 1898, he exhibited this drawing of an elegant woman-one of his very few works in pastel-in the first Vienna Secession exhibition and published it in the group's avant-garde journal Ver Sacrum (Sacred Spring). The sitter's parted lips (revealing small white teeth), rosy cheek, and thick hair pulled back and accentuated with a shiny hairpin contribute to a sense of verisimilitude even as the nervous quality of her quickly sketched hands, dark tonality, and undefined background give the work an enigmatic aspect. The range of deep blacks and grays and restricted, close-cropped composition suggest the influence of Whistler-whose lithographic works were also displayed in the first Secession exhibition.

The AMAM possesses two later drawings by the artist, a Study of a Nude Male in graphite with chalk heightening of about 1910 and a Reclining Girl in graphite of about 1912-14.