1994 After Gustav Klimt "The Maiden", First German Edition Poster

Description

A stunning poster after painting "The Maiden" (oil on canvas, 1913, Prague, Narodni Galerie), by Gustav Klimt (1862 – 1918). … more A stunning poster after painting "The Maiden" (oil on canvas, 1913, Prague, Narodni Galerie), by Gustav Klimt (1862 – 1918). First German Edition as a poster. Printed on a sheet of heavy paper, on one side. Colors are brilliant. Excellent condition - minor edge wear, never framed. Germany, 1994.

Overall 12"W x 17"H

The original painting is 6.23' x 6.56'.

Klimt's final style of painting, as typified in his work, follows a period when the artist's use of gold was at high point. His work subsequently displays a new wealth of colours, comparable to that of Bonnard and Matisse, both of whom Klimt admired. There is also evidence of influence of Japanese art in the pyramid-shaped compositions or the caleidoscopic arrangements which appear as if viewed from above. More than ever anatomy of Klimt's work is transformed into ornamental motifs, white ornamentation serves to depict anatomy.

And while the central theme remains Eros and the cycle of life, the unpleasant aspects of the subject have been left out completely as have the dark colors of death. The female figure, once femme fatale, has been transformed into a sex symbol with a certain charm - a figure on whom the artist bestows a share of innocence.

His painting The Maiden has a story to tell: a young girl is on her way to womanhood and we are invited to witness her sensual awakening on the road to erotic ecstasy. The various phases of her development are embodied by the same figure, multiplied as if in a dream. female body parts are separated into various poses and attitudes: they seem to be going round and round, as if filmed by an overhead camera gone crazy and rotating all on its own. The scene "filmed" has an unreal quality to it that defies gravity. The artist is no longer concerned with the act of physical union but with the state of expectation which precedes it. less