Study for the portrait of Margarethe Constance Lieser

Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, Collection Wolfgang Gurlitt, acquired in 1949 Margarethe Constance Lieser (1899–1943/44) was born to an industrialist couple in Vienna and moved to Hungary after her wedding in 1921. She died in 1943 or 1944 in London. This study for a portrait the artist did not live to finish depicts Margarethe Constance Lieser en face. The portrait’s frontality is reminiscent of other portraits by Klimt, such as Bachofen-Echt, Beer-Monti and Zuckerkandl. The way frontality, expression and hand posture were increasingly becoming recurring features of Klimt’s female portraits is something worth noting.