Accession Number
2007/2.87

Title
Young Girl Seated

Artist(s)
Gustav Klimt

Medium & Support
graphite on paper

Dimensions
22 in. x 14 1/2 in. ( 55.88 cm x 36.83 cm )

Credit Line
Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection

Label copy
Gustav Klimt
Young Girl Seated
(Possible study for Portrait of Mäda Primavesi)
1912–1913
Graphite on paper
Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection, 2007/2.87
Klimt’s portrait of Mäda Primavesi was his only commissioned portrait of a child. Although this particular sketch is not in the catalogue raisonné, the sitter is easily recognizable by the patterned pinafore she wears. The patterned dress is one of the most consistent elements that runs through the numerous preparatory drawings, and becomes the central decorative motif in the finished portrait. As in many of Klimt’s preparatory drawings for portraits, the artist represented the sitter in a variety of poses—here, her hands folded neatly in her lap. For the final portrait, however, Klimt represented her standing
with one hand on her hip, perhaps finding the precocious arm-akimbo pose more fitting for the energetic eight-year-old. Mäda was the daughter of the banker and industrialist Otto Primavesi, who also commissioned the artist to portray his wife, Eugenia.

Primary Object Classification
Drawing

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
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