Picture "Lady with Fan" (1917/18), platinum framed version
Picture "Lady with Fan" (1917/18), platinum framed version
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limited, 499 copies | reproduction, Giclée print on canvas | on stretcher frame | framed | size approx. 77 x 77 cm
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Picture "Lady with Fan" (1917/18), platinum framed version
The "Lady with Fan" is one of Klimt's last two paintings. The picture was still on the artist's easel in his studio when he died. In 1994, it fetched over 10 million US dollars at an auction. Almost 30 years later, in June 2023, it went to auction again and sold in London for 85.3 million pounds - it is the highest bid ever achieved for a Klimt painting and also the highest ever achieved for a painting at a European auction.
It belongs to Klimt's "Golden Style". Inspired by Byzantine mosaics, he placed ornamental areas of colour in a golden setting like set gems. His depictions of the body have a subtle eroticism, their figures dissolving into ornamental but also geometric areas of colour. The "Lady with Fan" wears a wide, kimono-like dress decorated with motifs of a Chinese dragon. Asian motifs cover the background. Behind the head of the "Wally" is a Phoenix, whose tail feathers look like an extension of the hairstyle. Next to it is a heron or crane and lotus blossoms.
The Phoenix is a symbol of immortality and rebirth. In China, it symbolises luck and fidelity, and the crane stands for a happy, old age. In Chinese tradition, the lotus blossoms can be interpreted as a symbol of love and happy marriage. In Buddhism, they symbolise the teachings of Buddha and are generally a symbol of purity.
Original: 1917/18, oil on canvas, privately owned.
Painting brilliantly reproduced using the Fine Art Giclée process on 100% cotton artist's canvas, on a stretcher frame. Limited edition 499 copies. Manufacture real wood framing with moulding surface in Passau platinum. Size approx. 77 x 77 cm.
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About Gustav Klimt
1862-1918, Austrian painter, a famous representative of Viennese Art Nouveau
Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was already a renowned artist, influencing the Art Nouveau style of Vienna's famous Ringstrasse with his murals and co-founding the Vienna Secession, when he created his "Golden Style". Inspired by the Byzantine mosaics, he inserted ornamental colour surfaces into a golden bed just like encased gemstones. With his visual art, Klimt describes the path of life of human beings who, negatively influenced by instincts, find their redemption in the kiss. The depictions of the body convey a subtle eroticism, although their figures dissolve into ornamental and geometric colour surfaces. He utilized this method not only for his depictions of couples but also for his portraits of rich women and landscape paintings. This two-dimensional style is today the epitome of Klimt's intensely coloured art, which, however, only characterises his work from 1905 onwards.
Klimt was not only adept at gold and opulence but was also a brilliant draughtsman. He produced numerous drawings in the course of his life. Mostly as preliminary studies for larger works.
As a son of an engraver, Klimt learned his craft at Vienna‘s School of Applied Arts. While still seeking to find his own artistic style, his early work is based on historicism especially influenced by Hans Makart, the artist Prince of the Habsburg monarchy in the late 19th century. Together with his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch, the three young painters formed an artistic community and received numerous commissions to design new buildings on Vienna's Ringstrasse. The staircases of Vienna's Burgtheater or the Museum of Fine Arts bear witness to the historicist style of this collaborative team.
In the late 1890s, like so many young and open-minded artists of the fin de siècle, Gustav Klimt abandoned the academic tradition. In 1897, together with other artists, he founded the "Wiener Secession", which he presided over as president until his resignation in 1905. To this day, the Secession's exhibition building remains a place and temple for new young art.
Giclée = derived from the French verb gicler "to squirt, spurt".
The giclée method is a digital printing process. It is a high-resolution, large-format printout on an inkjet printer with special different-coloured dye- or pigment-based inks (usually six to twelve). The colours are fade-proof, i.e. resistant to harmful UV light. They have a high richness of nuance, contrast and saturation.
The giclée process is suitable for art canvases, handmade and watercolour paper as well as for silk.
Art Nouveau, or the German term Jugendstil (lit.: "Youth Style"), is the art epoch between 1890-1910. The name originates from the Munich-based magazine "Jugend" (Youth), founded in 1896. It was the German counterpart of Art Nouveau (France), but also internationally known as Modern Style (England) or Secession (Austria).
Art Nouveau conquered all of Europe and innumerable works were created, ranging from painting and applied arts to architecture. One of the requirements of Art Nouveau was the artistic design of everyday objects, i.e. beauty and practicality were combined. The desired unity of the artistic ability could only be achieved through individually influenced design, which made the Jugenstil the precursor of modernism. The essential characteristic of Art Nouveau is linear, often asymmetrical ornamentation. The models are particularly taken from nature and flora.
Major Art Nouveau centres were formed in Munich, Darmstadt, Brussels, Paris and Nancy (Glass Art by Emile Gallé). The Viennese architecture of that time was determined by Otto Wagner and J. Hoffmann. Gustav Klimt created paintings that gave sensual shape to the spirit of Art Nouveau.