GUSTAV KLIMT, (1862-1918)

Kopf - und Handstudien

Kopf - und Handstudien
signed with the artist's initials 'G·K' and inscribed 'R' (lower right)
pencil on buff paper
50 x 34.5cm (19 11/16 x 13 9/16in).
Executed in 1902

Provenance
Erich Lederer Collection, Vienna.
The Piccadilly Gallery, London (circa 1973).
Private collection, UK (acquired from the above).
Private collection, UK (by descent from the above).
Private collection, London (acquired from the above).

Exhibited
London, The Piccadilly Gallery, Gustav Klimt, 30 October - 24 November 1973, no. 22 (later travelled to New York; titled 'Sketches for the "Beethoven Frieze"').

Literature
A. Strobl, Gustav Klimt, Die Zeichnungen, Vol. I, 1878 - 1903, Salzburg, 1980, no. 838 (illustrated p. 245).

The present work is a study for three key figures from Gustav Klimt's famous Beethoven Frieze now in the Secession Building, Vienna, Austria. The heads to the left are studies for the two angels seen in the upper left of the mural entitled Die Kunst, while the head to the lower right relates to the female figure personifying lust in the central part of the composition.