The Gustav Klimt Sale
Auction: 24/04/24
Exhibition: 13-21 April, 10am-5pm
Please note:
The Auction House reserves the right to request a deposit, bank guarantee or comparable other security in the amount of 10% of the upper estimate.
Purchase orders and accreditation requests must be received by the auction house up to 24 hours before the auction in order to guarantee complete processing.
Admission to the auction room is by appointment only and with a seat reservation. Registration at: gaber@imkinsky.com, +43 1 532 42 00 24
Why do you think the painting has been hidden until now?
The painting has never been hidden, it only hasn’t been shown. Maybe the former owner didn’t know who had been the artist since the painting is not signed.
How did the experts evaluate whether the painting was an original?
Besides the examination of the original by our experienced experts, detailed conservational and infrared reflectography examinations were set up.
Furthermore, there exists an important image source: The painting is documented in catalogues of Gustav Klimt’s paintings but was only known to experts from a black-and-white photograph. This only known photograph of the painting is held in the archives of the Austrian National Library and, according to our assumptions, for an exhibition planned by Otto Kallir-Nirenstein at the Neue Galerie in Vienna; The black-and-white photo shows the painting in the exhibition frame that still exists today.
Am I right in thinking that the Liesers were a Jewish family but they lost much of their property prior to the Second World War?
As far as we know, the entire family lost most of their possessions because they fled Austria after 1930 due to the political situation. One family member was even murdered by the Nazis.
Has much of their property now been recovered?
Only a part o fit.
As no evidence exists that this particular work was ‘‘stolen or confiscated by the authorities seized’, is it possible the picture left the Liesers’ collection before the Nazis came to power in Austria?
We think this is unlikely, but have no evidence to support it.
Current ‘house record’ at im Kinsky
Egon Schiele, Mädchen, 1917
sold for 21 Mio. Schilling (1998; today that comes to € 4 Mio.)
Auction Record for Austria
€ 7.022.300 (2010)
The provenance notes list it was once part of a dealer’s collection – are any further details available?
There is an indication in the provenance notes that the painting was in the art trade. Even our research has found no evidence for this information in the catalogues raisonnés.
Recent research - by Olga Kronsteiner, for example - has even refuted this indication.
I heard what you said about the possible re-assessment of the sitter in the painting, as one of Henriette Amalie Lieser-Laundau’s daughters, but there are Klimt experts who tell me that more research needs to be done on the sitter - what would be your comment?
You always can „do“ more research. We have done atleast six months of research and have found out that the sitter is known to be a member of the Lieser family, that belonged to the circle of wealthy, upper-class Viennese society in which Klimt found his patrons and clients. However, the identity of Klimt’s sitter is not completely certain.
Actually, three young women of the Lieser family might have been Klimt’s model: Margarethe Constance Lieser (1899-1965), Helene Lieser (1898-1962) or Annie Lieser (1901-1972). There are things that speak for or against the one or the other.
Please could you confirm that the painting has an export licence?
Yes, a permit from the Austrian Federal Monuments Authority for the export of the painting was issued.
When was im Kinsky approached by the current owners ?
About sixteen months ago.
Knowing the recent numbers achieved by the Christie's and Sotheby's sales in 2022 and 2023, one could assume that an owner of a Klimt would be tempted to work with one of these two auction houses. Why does Kinsky think they were picked by the sellers ?
It would be interesting to know about their motives. I've understood they are Austrian and that im Kinsky has a solid Klimt expertise. If you could tell me more about that, it'd be great.
We believe that we have gained the advantage over the market leaders Christie's and Sotheby's for several reasons: Because we specialise in works of art originating from Austria; because the consignors expected us, as a relatively small auction house, to receive more intensive attention and a great deal of attention; but above all because the consignors thought that the partially unexplained history of the artwork could cause problems in connection with restitution claims by former owners and because Auktionshaus im Kinsky GmbH is known, at least in Central Europe, for its ability to recognise and solve such problems.
The Standard was able to locate records and documents relatively quickly and without any problems. Who at the Kinsky was responsible for researching the provenance of the "Portrait of Miss Lieser" and how can it be explained that the same documents and records could not be located?
The documents were found in a - non-digitised - archive of the MUMOK, which we did not think could contain any useful clues / information during our research.
Is it true that Im Kinsky did not investigate the dating of the painting?
That's not true. On the contrary, we had all the usual art historical and museum analyses carried out.
On what basis can doubts about the authenticity of the painting be ruled out?
We are not aware of any (serious) doubts about the authenticity of the painting. The artwork has been x-rayed, examined by a restorer, numerous art experts and also by court-certified experts.