#Gustav Klimt 'Portrait of Fräulein Lieser'

[blueiskewl]

Gustav Klimt Portrait Missing for a Century Sells for $32 Million

A portrait by Gustav Klimt that was unseen for almost a century has sold for $32 million – the bottom end of its pre-auction estimate.

The “Portrait of Fräulein Lieser,” thought to be one of the Austrian painter’s final works, created huge excitement in the art world, but it ended up selling at the lower end of its valuation of €30 million-€50 million ($32 million to $53.4 million).

Bids started at €28 million and the work went for a hammer price of €30 million. This does not include the auction house’s fees.

The sale price was less than half that fetched by another Klimt painting – “Dame mit Fächer” (Lady with a Fan) – in London last year. The last portrait completed by Klimt became the most expensive artwork ever to sell at a European auction, when it sold for a £85.3 million ($108.4 million).

The “Portrait of Fräulein Lieser” had long been considered lost, according to Vienna auction house im Kinsky. However, it recently emerged that it had been privately owned by an Austrian citizen.

“The rediscovery of this portrait, one of the most beautiful of Klimt’s last creative period, is a sensation,” the auction house said in a press statement on its website prior to its sale on Wednesday afternoon.

The intensely vivid and colorful piece had been documented in catalogues of the artist’s work, but experts had only seen it in a black and white photo.

The sitter is known to have been a member of a wealthy Austrian Jewish family who were then part of the upper class of Viennese society, where Klimt found his patrons and clients. Nevertheless, her identity is not completely certain.

Brothers Adolf and Justus Lieser were leading industrialists in the Austro-Hungarian empire. Catalogues of Klimt’s work state that Adolf commissioned the artist to paint his teenage daughter Margarethe Constance. However, new research by the auction house suggests Justus’ wife, Lilly, hired him to paint one of their two daughters.

The statement on the auctioneer’s website reveals that the sitter – whoever she was – visited Klimt’s studio nine times in April and May 1917. He made at least 25 preliminary studies and most likely began the painting in the May of that year.

“The painter chose a three-quarter portrait for his depiction and shows the young woman in a strictly frontal pose, close to the foreground, against a red, undefined background. A cape richly decorated with flowers is draped around her shoulders,” the auction house said.

It added: “The intense colors of the painting and the shift towards loose, open brushstrokes show Klimt at the height of his late period.”

When the artist died of a stroke the following February, the painting was still in his studio — with some small parts not quite finished. It was then given to the Lieser family.

Its exact fate after 1925 is “unclear,” according to the auction house.

“What is known is that it was acquired by a legal predecessor of the consignor in the 1960s and went to the current owner through three successive inheritances,” the statement said.

The painting was to be sold on behalf of its Austrian owners, who have not been named, along with the legal successors of “Adolf and Henriette Lieser based on an agreement in accordance with the Washington Principles of 1998,” the auction house said.

Established in 1998, the Washington Principles charged participating nations with returning Nazi-confiscated art to their rightful owners.

Claudia Mörth-Gasser, specialist in modern art at im Kinsky, explained the situation in an email.

She said the auctioneer checked the painting’s history and provenance “in all possible ways in Austria,” adding: “We have checked all archives and have found no evidence that the painting has ever been exported out of Austria, confiscated or looted.”

But by the same token, she added: “We have no proof that the painting has not ever been looted in the time gap between 1938 and 1945.”

And this is the reason “why we arranged an agreement between the present owner and all descendants of the Lieser family in accordance to the ‘Washington Principles,’” she said.

Klimt’s portraits of women “are seldom offered at auctions,” the press release stated. It continued: “A painting of such rarity, artistic significance, and value has not been available on the art market in Central Europe for decades.”

By Lianne Kolirin.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

(CNN) — A portrait by Gustav Klimt that was unseen for almost a century is expected to fetch millions when it goes up for auction this spring.

The “Portrait of Fräulein Lieser,” thought to be one of the Austrian painter’s final works, is expected to fetch up to $54 million at a sale that has created huge excitement in the art world.

The painting had long been considered lost, according to Vienna auction house im Kinsky.

However, it has now emerged that it had been privately owned by an Austrian citizen.

“The rediscovery of this portrait, one of the most beautiful of Klimt’s last creative period, is a sensation,” the auction house said in a press statement on its website.

The intensely vivid and colorful piece had been documented in catalogues of the artist’s work, but experts had only seen it in a black and white photo.

The sitter is known to have been a member of a wealthy Austrian Jewish family who were then part of the upper class of Viennese society, where Klimt found his patrons and clients.

Nevertheless, her identity is not completely certain.

Brothers Adolf and Justus Lieser were leading industrialists in the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Catalogues of Klimt’s work state that Adolf commissioned the artist to paint his teenage daughter Margarethe Constance.

However, new research by the auction house suggests Justus’ wife, Lilly, hired him to paint one of their two daughters.

The statement on the auctioneer’s website reveals that the sitter — whoever she was — visited Klimt’s studio nine times in April and May 1917.

He made at least 25 preliminary studies and most likely began the painting in the May of that year.

“The painter chose a three-quarter portrait for his depiction and shows the young woman in a strictly frontal pose, close to the foreground, against a red, undefined background. A cape richly decorated with flowers is draped around her shoulders,” the auction house said.

It added:

“The intense colors of the painting and the shift towards loose, open brushstrokes show Klimt at the height of his late period.”

When the artist died of a stroke the following February, the painting was still in his studio - with some small parts not quite finished. It was then given to the Lieser family.

Its exact fate after 1925 is “unclear,” according to the auction house.

“What is known is that it was acquired by a legal predecessor of the consignor in the 1960s and went to the current owner through three successive inheritances,” the statement said.

"The painting is to be sold on behalf of its Austrian owners, who have not been named, along with the legal successors of 'Adolf and Henriette Lieser based on an agreement in accordance with the Washington Principles of 1998,'” the auction house said.

Established in 1998, the Washington Principles charged participating nations with returning Nazi-confiscated art to their rightful owners.

Claudia Mörth-Gasser, specialist in modern art at im Kinsky, explained the situation in an email to CNN.

She said the auctioneer checked the painting’s history and provenance “in all possible ways in Austria,” adding:

“We have checked all archives and have found no evidence that the painting has ever been exported out of Austria, confiscated or looted.

But by the same token, she added:

“We have no proof that the painting has not ever been looted in the time gap between 1938 and 1945.”

"And this is the reason why we arranged an agreement between the present owner and all descendants of the Lieser family in accordance to the ‘Washington Principles,’” she said.

Klimt’s portraits of women “are seldom offered at auctions,” the press release states.

It continues:

“A painting of such rarity, artistic significance, and value has not been available on the art market in Central Europe for decades.

The painting will tour internationally ahead of the sale on April 24, stopping in Switzerland, Germany, Britain and Hong Kong."

The last portrait completed by Klimt became the most expensive artwork ever to sell at a European auction, when it fetched a staggering £85.3 million ($108.4 million) in London last year.

Depicting an unidentified female subject, “Dame mit Fächer” (Lady with a Fan) also established a new record for Klimt, outselling “Birch Forest,” which went for $104.6 million in a sale from the collection of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen in 2022.

Gustav Klimt (14 July 1862 – 6 February 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement.

[thedepartmentofdiscoveries]

Portrait of Fräulein Lieser

German: Bildnis Fräulein Lieser

Artist: Gustav Klimt

Year: 1917.

Medium : Oil on canvas.

Dimensions 140 cm × 80 cm (55 in × 31 in)

Location: Originally in Private collection.

Portrait of Fräulein Lieser (German: Bildnis Fräulein Lieser) is a portrait created by Gustav Klimt. Painted in 1917, the piece was left unsigned in his studio when he died in 1918. It was presumed lost or broken by experts until it was discovered in adequate condition in 2024.

In April 2024, it is scheduled to be sold by the im Kinsky auction house.

[tomoleary]

Gustav Klimt “Portrait of Fräulein Lieser” (German: Bildnis Fräulein Lieser)

“Painted in 1917, the piece was left unsigned in his studio when he died in 1918. It was presumed lost or broken by experts until it was discovered in adequate condition in 2024.”

Source

[liriostigre]

Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Fräulein Lieser

Painted in 1917 and left unsigned in Klimt's studio when he died in 1918. It was presumed lost or broken until it was discovered in adequate condition in 2024.

[youcannottakeitwithyou]

Gustav Klimt (Austrian, 1862–1918). Portrait of Fräulein Lieser (1917).

Gustav Klimt's final portrait, thought lost for nearly 100 years, heads to auction in Vienna (artnet, 26.01.2024).

[centuriespast]

“Portrait of Fräulein Lieser” by Gustav Klimt.

Credit…im Kinsky

[merelygifted]

Gustav Klimt portrait, lost in 1925, surfaces with a heistworthy price | BoingBoing

Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Fräulein Lieser, painted in 1917, went missing a few years later and was assumed lost then and probably destroyed during World War II. It has finally surfaced in Vienna after a century of speculation. The current owner's family has possesed it since the 1960s and it's said to be worth $54 million. It is to be auctioned, with the proceeds split between them and the Liesers.

This is based on the Washington Principles, an international agreement to return Nazi-looted art to the descendants of the people they were taken from. Before the auction, the painting will be presented at various international locations including the UK, Switzerland, Germany and Hong Kong, the auction house said. The portrait once belonged to the Lieser family, who were wealthy Jewish industrialists in Vienna. Ernst Ploil, co-Managing Director of Kinsky Auction House, said they had so far found no evidence that the work had been looted or stolen before or during World War Two.

Klimt is in right now: his final portrait, "Lady with a fan," sold for about $100m last summer at Sothebys.  ...

It’s a lovely painting, even for Klimt! but I just couldn’t resist...

[xtruss]

Gustav Klimt Portrait Found After Vanishing Nearly 100 Years Ago

It is One of the Last Works the Artist Painted Before his Death in 1918.

— By Jon Haworth | Published: January 26, 2024

Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Fräulein Lieser. im Kinsky Auction House

LONDON — One of the last paintings by the renowned Austrian artist Gustav Klimt has miraculously been found after vanishing nearly 100 years ago.

The painting, titled Portrait of Fräulein Lieser, was found in Vienna after last being seen by the public in 1925. Until now, the only known photograph of the painting had been held in the archives of the Austrian National Library. The picture was likely taken in 1925 in connection with the Klimt exhibition by Otto Kallir-Nirenstein in the Neue Galerie, Vienna.

Since then, its location had been a mystery.

"The rediscovery of this portrait, one of the most beautiful of Klimt's last creative period, is a sensation," said the im Kinsky auction house in a statement announcing the discovery. "As a key figure of Viennese Art Nouveau, Gustav Klimt epitomizes fin de siècle Austrian Modernism more than any other artist. His work, particularly his portraits of successful women from the upper middle class at the turn of the century, enjoy the highest recognition worldwide."

The work of art will go up for auction at the im Kinsky auction house in Vienna on April 24 and is expected to fetch millions on the market.

A cameraman takes footage of the painting Bildnis Fraeulein Lieser (Portrait of Miss Lieser) by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) during a press conference of the Kinsky Art Auction House in Vienna, on Jan. 25, 2024. Roland Schlager/APA/AFP via Getty Images

"Klimt's paintings rank in the top echelons of the international art market. His portraits of women are seldom offered at auctions. A painting of such rarity, artistic significance, and value has not been available on the art market in Central Europe for decades," im Kinsky auction house said. "This also applies to Austria, where no work of art of even approximate importance has been available."

The painting will now travel worldwide on short exhibitions until it is auctioned and is set to be presented at various locations internationally, including stops in Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain and Hong Kong.

The model for the painting is labeled as Fräulein Lieser, also known as Margarethe Constance Lieser (1899-1965), daughter of the Austrian industrial magnate Adolf Lieser. But new research by the im Kinsky auction house into the history and provenance of the masterpiece has opened up the possibility that Klimt's model could have been another member of the Lieser family -- either Helene Lieser (1898-1962), the first-born of Henriette Amalie Lieser-Landau and Justus Lieser, or their younger daughter, Annie Lieser (1901-1972), according to officials.

"In April and May 1917, the sitter visited Klimt's studio in Hietzing nine times to pose for him," im Kinsky said. "Klimt probably began the painting in May 1917. The painter chose a three-quarter portrait for his depiction and shows the young woman in a strictly frontal pose, close to the foreground, against a red, undefined background. A cape richly decorated with flowers is draped around her shoulders."

The portrait is thought to be one of Klimt's last paintings and was done shortly before he died of a stroke on Feb. 6, 1918. The painting was left, with several small portions of it unfinished, in his studio and it is thought that the painting was given to the family who had commissioned it after his death.

The painting, however, would soon vanish and the exact fate of the painting after 1925 is unclear.

"What is known is that it was acquired by a legal predecessor of the consignor in the 1960s and went to the current owner through three successive inheritances," im Kinsky auction house said.

[annoyinglydarkflower]

The last known location of “Portrait of Fräulein Lieser” by world-renowned Austrianartist Gustav Klimt was in Vienna in the mid-1920s. The vivid painting featuring a young woman was listed as property of a “Mrs Lieser” — believed to be Henriette Lieser, who was deported and killed by the Nazis.

Now, almost 100 years later, this painting by one of the world’s most famous modernist artists is on display and up for sale — having been rediscovered in what the auction house has hailed as a sensational find.

“The rediscovery of this portrait, one of the most beautiful of Klimt’s last creative period, is a sensation,” Austrian auction house im Kinsky said in a statement.

Source: Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/26/gustav-klimt-portrait-frulein-lieser-auction

[blueiskewl]

Gustav Klimt Portrait Found After Vanishing Nearly 100 Years Ago

It is one of the last works the artist painted before his death in 1918.

One of the last paintings by the renowned Austrian artist Gustav Klimt has miraculously been found after vanishing nearly 100 years ago.

The painting, titled Portrait of Fräulein Lieser, was found in Vienna after last being seen by the public in 1925. Until now, the only known photograph of the painting had been held in the archives of the Austrian National Library. The picture was likely taken in 1925 in connection with the Klimt exhibition by Otto Kallir-Nirenstein in the Neue Galerie, Vienna.

Since then, its location had been a mystery.

"The rediscovery of this portrait, one of the most beautiful of Klimt's last creative period, is a sensation," said the im Kinsky auction house in a statement announcing the discovery. "As a key figure of Viennese Art Nouveau, Gustav Klimt epitomizes fin de siècle Austrian Modernism more than any other artist. His work, particularly his portraits of successful women from the upper middle class at the turn of the century, enjoy the highest recognition worldwide."

The work of art will go up for auction at the im Kinsky auction house in Vienna on April 24 and is expected to fetch millions on the market.

"Klimt's paintings rank in the top echelons of the international art market. His portraits of women are seldom offered at auctions. A painting of such rarity, artistic significance, and value has not been available on the art market in Central Europe for decades," im Kinsky auction house said. "This also applies to Austria, where no work of art of even approximate importance has been available."

The painting will now travel worldwide on short exhibitions until it is auctioned and is set to be presented at various locations internationally, including stops in Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain and Hong Kong.

The model for the painting is labeled as Fräulein Lieser, also known as Margarethe Constance Lieser (1899-1965), daughter of the Austrian industrial magnate Adolf Lieser. But new research by the im Kinsky auction house into the history and provenance of the masterpiece has opened up the possibility that Klimt's model could have been another member of the Lieser family -- either Helene Lieser (1898-1962), the first-born of Henriette Amalie Lieser-Landau and Justus Lieser, or their younger daughter, Annie Lieser (1901-1972), according to officials.

"In April and May 1917, the sitter visited Klimt's studio in Hietzing nine times to pose for him," im Kinsky said. "Klimt probably began the painting in May 1917. The painter chose a three-quarter portrait for his depiction and shows the young woman in a strictly frontal pose, close to the foreground, against a red, undefined background. A cape richly decorated with flowers is draped around her shoulders."

The portrait is thought to be one of Klimt's last paintings and was done shortly before he died of a stroke on Feb. 6, 1918. The painting was left, with several small portions of it unfinished, in his studio and it is thought that the painting was given to the family who had commissioned it after his death.

The painting, however, would soon vanish and the exact fate of the painting after 1925 is unclear.

"What is known is that it was acquired by a legal predecessor of the consignor in the 1960s and went to the current owner through three successive inheritances," im Kinsky auction house said.

ByJon Haworth.