(Kappel, Carinthia 1919–2014 Vienna) “Stammbaum der Familie Fly von Beutelstrok”, 1979, titled Der Stammbaum der Familie Fly von Beutelstrok 1979, watercolor and pencil on paper, 60 x 42.3 cm framed Provenance: Private Collection, New York Private Collection, Bonn Kunsthaus Lempertz, Köln, 28 May 2003, lot 244 Germann Auktionshaus AG, Zurich, 8 June 2004 lot 17 Private Collection, Vienna - acquired from the above Literature: Maria Lassnig, Aquarelle, Ritter Verlag 1988, page 65 with ill. …The developments arising during Lassnig’s Berlin residency represent a fascinating evolution in her artistic trajectory. It was during this period that she turned toward the medium of watercolor as a “scientific” instrument through which to interrogate her psychic interiority and the faculties of her imagination. In these works, Lassnig investigates the chromatic projections of the eye itself, endeavoring to retrieve those latent images that emerge from the subconscious as mnemonic vestiges of reality when contemplating a specific concept. This process constitutes a literal “seeing with closed eyes”. … …The palette of this internal psychic world diverges from her earlier, more vibrant tonal configurations… …In In this phase, we observe the emergence of muted, nuanced tones that prefigure her subsequent landscape watercolors. This period also encompasses the “Genealogical Trees”, in which Lassnig transposes her varied typologies of body-awareness into ancestral human forms, or otherwise orchestrates an intimate synthesis between the human form and the arboreal world. Excerpt from: Konrad Oberhuber, Die Bewegungen mit Außenwelt: Maria Lassnig, Aquarelle“, pp.14-15
Braves Kind macht in die Hose. 1997. Bleistift auf Bütten. Am unteren Blattrand signiert und datiert: M Lassnig, 97. Blattmaß: 31,2 x 22,5 cm. Im Passepartout freigestellt und unter Glas gerahmt: 43 x 33 cm.
Lassnig, Maria d.i. Maria Eleonore Gregorz Kappel am Krappfeld, 1919 - Wien, 2014 29,6 x 21 cm, R. "Der Mann im Bett", 1997. Pencil on paper. Signed, titled, inscribed and dated in pencil lower right "Berlin 30. V. 97", and with dedication at the top. Private collection, Baden-Württemberg. Lassnig, Maria d.i. Maria Eleonore Gregorz Kappel am Krappfeld, 1919 - Wien, 2014 29,6 x 21 cm, R. "Der Mann im Bett", 1997. Bleistift auf Papier. In Bleistift unten rechts signiert, betitelt, bezeichnet und datiert "Berlin 30. V. 97" sowie oben mit Widmung. Privatbesitz, Baden-Württemberg.
Lassnig, Maria d.i. Maria Eleonore Gregorz Kappel am Krappfeld, 1919 - Wien, 2014 29,7 x 21 cm, o. R. "Engel von hinten", 1997. Pencil on paper. Signed, titled, inscribed and dated "Berlin 30 V. 1997" lower right, and with dedication at the top. Private collection, Baden-Württemberg. Lassnig, Maria d.i. Maria Eleonore Gregorz Kappel am Krappfeld, 1919 - Wien, 2014 29,7 x 21 cm, o. R. "Engel von hinten", 1997. Bleistift auf Papier. In Bleistift unten rechts signiert, betitelt, bezeichnet und datiert "Berlin 30. V. 1997" sowie oben mit Widmung. Privatsammlung, Baden-Württemberg.
Lassnig, Maria d.i. Maria Eleonore Gregorz Kappel am Krappfeld, 1919 - Wien, 2014 29,8 x 21 cm, o. R. "Böhmische Nase", 1997. Pencil on paper. Signed, titled, inscribed and dated "Berlin 30. V. 97" in pencil lower right, and with dedication at the top. Private collection, Baden-Württemberg. Lassnig, Maria d.i. Maria Eleonore Gregorz Kappel am Krappfeld, 1919 - Wien, 2014 29,8 x 21 cm, o. R. "Böhmische Nase", 1997. Bleistift auf Papier. In Bleistift unten rechts signiert, betitelt, bezeichnet und datiert "Berlin 30. V. 97" sowie oben mit Widmung. Privatsammlung Baden-Württemberg.
Maria Lassnig Kappel am Krappfeld 1919 - 2014 Wien Tag & Nachtgedanken Farblithografie auf Papier 50 x 59,5 cm Edition: 77/100 Exemplare 1991 rechts unten handsigniert sowie im Druck: M. Lassnig, links unten nummeriert: 77/100, links mit Prägestempel: Gesellschaft der Freunde der Albertina Provenienz: Gesellschaft der Freunde der Albertina, Privatsammlung Wien Was man malt, das hat man ja schon im Blut. (Maria Lassnig) Please note that the RESALE ROYALTY of 4% will be charged for bids higher than 2.500€.
Maria Lassnig Kappel am Krappfeld 1919 - 2014 Wien New York Aquarell auf Bütten 45,5 x 60,5 cm 1979 rechts unten signiert, datiert und betitelt: M Lassnig 1979 New York WV-Nr. 1023 Provenienz: Galerie Ulysses Wien 1994, Privatsammlung Wien 1941 fuhr Maria Lassnig mit dem Fahrrad nach Wien, um sich an der Akademie um Aufnahme zu bemühen. Wilhelm Dachauer warf sie 1943 aus seiner Meisterklasse, weil er ihre Bilder als „entartet“ klassifizierte. Bei ihrer ersten Ausstellung in Klagenfurt stießen ihre Bilder auf heftige Ablehnung, weil sie für pornographisch gehalten wurden. Ein Stipendium ermöglichte ihr 1950 – gemeinsam mit Arnulf Rainer – eine erste Parisreise. Die beiden jungen Künstler entdeckten die informelle Kunst. 1961 zog Lassnig ganz nach Paris. Hier entstanden zwei Meter große Körpergefühls-Figurationen, die aber nie ausgestellt wurden. 1964 beschloss sie, nach New York zu gehen, wo sie sich nicht nur mit Malerei, sondern auch mit Zeichentrickfilmen beschäftigte. Wirtschaftlich ging es ihr in New York sehr schlecht; auch ihre Kunst blieb weitgehend unverstanden. 1980 wurde ihr als erster Frau eine Professur an einer deutschsprachigen Kunstakademie anvertraut. Im selben Jahr vertrat sie – gemeinsam mit VALIE EXPORT – Österreich bei der Biennale in Venedig. Es folgen 1982 und 1997 Einladungen zur documenta nach Kassel. 2004 wurde ihr der renommierte Max-Beckmann-Preis zuerkannt, 2013 in Venedig der Goldene Löwe. Ihre „Körperempfindungs“-Bilder machten sie weltberühmt. Maria Lassnig war eine der ersten Künstlerinnen, die weibliche Positionen in der Kunstwelt und in der Gesellschaft reflektierten und den Einfluss des weiblichen Körpers auf die Biographie drastisch darstellten. Sie befasste sich mit Darstellungen männlicher Dominanz und Gewalt, vom „Weltzertrümmerer“ bis zum „Kinderschreck“. Please note that the RESALE ROYALTY of 4% will be charged for bids higher than 2.500€.
Maria Lassnig Untitled screen print on paper; framed 42.3 x 49.8 cm (cut-out) handwritten numbered on the lower left: 88/100 handwritten signed on the lower right: M Lassnig additionally signed on the print: M. Lassnig private property, Styria
Maria Lassnig Verkleidung 1992 graphite on paper; framed 59 x 43.5 cm inscribed, signed and dated on the lower right: Verkleidung, M Lassnig, 1992 private collection, Austria
Maria Lassnig Bedrohung im Grunewald 1978 mixed media on paper; framed 55 x 41 cm (cut-out) inscribed, monogrammed and dated on the lower right: Bedrohung im Grunewald, ML, 78 private collection, Austria
Maria Lassnig o. T. 1959 black chalk on paper; framed 50 x 65 cm signed and dated on the lower right: Lassnig, 1959 private collection, Vienna (acquired in the 1970s by the father of the current owner)
MARIA LASSNIG (Kappel am Krappfeld 1919–2014 Vienna) Sciencefiction Nasenansauge. 1993. Pencil, ink and collage with paper and adhesive strips on paper. Titled and dated lower right: Sciencefiction Nasenansauge 93. 44 × 59.8 cm. Provenance: - Hilfiker Kunstprojekte, Lucerne. - Private collection, Switzerland (acquired from the above in 2015). - Private collection, Switzerland (by descent in 2025). Exhibited: - Berlin 1997, Maria Lassnig. Be-Ziehungen und Malflüsse, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein/DAAD-Galerie Berlin, 31 May –20 July 1997, cat. 1. edition, p. 80 (with ill.). - Bern 1997, Maria Lassnig. Be-Ziehungen und Malflüsse, Kunsthalle Bern, 12 September–23 November 1997, cat. 2. edition, p. 109 (with ill.). ------------------------------------------------- MARIA LASSNIG (Kappel am Krappfeld 1919–2014 Wien) Sciencefiction Nasenansauge. 1993. Bleistift, Tinte und Collage mit Papier und Klebestreifen auf Papier. Unten rechts betitelt und datiert: Sciencefiction Nasenansauge 93. 44 × 59,8 cm. Provenienz: - Hilfiker Kunstprojekte, Luzern. - Privatsammlung Schweiz, in obiger Galerie 2015 erworben. - Privatsammlung Schweiz, durch Erbschaft 2025 erhalten. Ausstellungen: - Berlin 1997, Maria Lassnig. Be-Ziehungen und Malflüsse, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein/DAAD-Galerie Berlin, 31.5.–20.7.1997, Kat. 1. Auflage, S. 80 (mit Abb.). - Bern 1997, Maria Lassnig. Be-Ziehungen und Malflüsse, Kunsthalle Bern, 12.9.–23.11.1997, Kat. 2. Auflage, S. 109 (mit Abb.).
(Kappel, Carinthia, 1919–2014 Vienna) „2 Figuren auf buntem Hintergrund“ monogrammed ML 1980, titelt: 2 Figuren auf buntem Hintergrund, watercolor on paper, pencil, 42.6 x 61 cm, on the reverse a pencil drawing, framed Provenance: Galerie Curtze, Vienna Private Collection, Vienna
(Kappel, Carinthia 1919–2014 Vienna) “Abkömlinge” (Descendants), signed, dated M. Lassnig Sommer (summer) 1980, (on the original: inscription with a double dash over the m), titled: “Abkömlinge”, watercolor, pencil on paper, 42.5 x 61 cm Provenance: Private Collection, Germany
Blume. 1987. Aquatinta-Radierung auf Bütten. Unterhalb der Darstellung mit Bleistift signiert, betitelt, datiert und nummeriert: M. Lassnig, Blume, 1987, 15/20. Blattmaß: 53,2 x 39,2 cm.
Maria Lassnig A Pair of Gloves (for Parkett no. 85) 2006-09 screenprint in colors image: 16.875 h x 24 w in (43 x 61 cm) sight: 18 h x 25 w in (46 x 63 cm) Signed and numbered to lower edge '33/45 M Lassnig'. This work is number 33 from the edition of 45 printed by Lorenz Boegli, Zurich and published by Parkett Publishers, Zurich and New York. This work will ship from Lambertville, New Jersey.
Maria Lassnig Die Weisheit wird mit Blut erkauft 1984 oil on canvas; framed 85 x 65 cm signed and dated on the reverse: M. Lassnig 1984 inscribed and dated on the reverse: "Die Weisheit wird mit Blut erkauft" 83-84 private collection, Austria
(Kappel, Carinthia, 1919-2014 Vienna) Untitled (mountains), signed and dated Lassnig 1955, oil on board, 35 x 49.5 cm, framed Listed: Christa Murken. Maria Lassnig. Ihr Leben und ihr malerisches Werk, Ihre kunstgeschichtliche Stellung in der Malerei des 20. Jahrhunderts, Verlag Murken-Altrogge, 1990, p. 454, catalogue raisonné no. 100 Exhibited and with color illustration in the catalogue: Wieland Schmid, Maria Lassnig, Galerie Klewan, Munich 1992 - titled “Anthropomorphic Landscape” (Anthropomorphe Landschaft). Provenance: Heide Hildebrand Gallery, Klagenfurt Klewan Gallery, Munich Private Collection, Vienna Dorotheum, November 22, 2016, Lot 753 Private Collection, Vienna One has to have seen or felt the world, that is, one must know something specific, in order to grasp it and to make it. And not only to stand in passing or in the dark. He only paints because he likes the names of the colours: sepia, umber, titanium white, phtalo green, cerulean blue. Maria Lassnig, „Die Feder ist die Schwester des Pinsels“, Tagebücher 1943 – 1997, Hans Ulrich Obrist, DuMont, 2000.
(Kappel, Carinthia, 1919–2014 Vienna) “Désespoir et brume”, signed and dated M. Lassnig 15. I. 97, titled: Désespoir et brume, inscribed “1154” on the reverse, pencil on paper, 50 x 70 cm loan frame Exhibited and illustrated in the catalogue: Maria Lassnig, New Pictures and Drawings, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein/Berliner Künstlerprogramm DAAD/Kunsthalle Bern, Berlin/Bern 1997 - full-page illustration, p. 89 Maria Lassnig. Be-Ziehungen und Malflüsse, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein/Berliner Künstlerprogramm DAAD/Kunsthalle Bern, Berlin/Bern 1997, illustration p.107 Provenance: Private Collection, Switzerland - directly from the artist Private Collection, France "What can be shown, cannot be said." Thanks to Wittgenstein for visual art, Maria Lassnig, May 2, 1996 Maria Lassnig. Die Feder ist die Schwester des Pinsels, Tagebücher 1943 - 1997 Hans Ulrich Obrist DuMont, 2000.
(Kappel, Carinthia 1919–2014 Vienna) “Selbstportrait mit Engel”, or “Kleiner Harlekin”, 1961, signed Maria Lassnig, titled and dated Selbstportrait mit Engel 1961, on the back of the stretcher inscribed by the artist: Kleiner Harlekin, oil on canvas, 75.5 x 114.5 cm, framed This work has been registered in the Catalogue Raisonné of the artist, Maria Lassnig Stiftung, Vienna. Provenance: Galerie Curtze, Vienna Private Collection, Vienna Lassnig referred to these paintings as Strichbilder (line pictures) or, affectionately, as Strichmanderln (little line men). Nearly forty years later, they are among her purest “Body-awareness” works: 'I mean, the real body art was the lines, the expansion lines, and this is not abstraction, but real sensation – …' And: 'Basically, these are my most beautiful paintings' …" Natalie Lettner. Maria Lassnig. Die Biografie. Christian Brandstätter Verlag, 2017. My very great simplicity in life is offset by the diversity of my art. Maria Lassnig 1967 Colours leaning towards grey create a sense of distance. Maria Lassnig 1967 I can only begin on white canvases. Painting over a canvas that has already been worked on means starting on something pre-existing, it feels sticky, I would get stuck in it like in a swamp: there’s nothing for me to connect with. The paint sludge contains too much randomness. My approach, my point of departure, is already mysterious enough that I must first untangle it, bring it into clarity. Maria Lassnig 1960 Texts from: Maria Lassnig. Die Feder ist die Schwester des Pinsels. Tagebücher 1943-1997, Hans Ulrich Obrist, DuMont, 2000
Maria Lassnig Untitled 1981 colour lithography; unframed 63.5 x 45.2 cm numbered, signed and dated by the hand of the artist at the bottom: 19/100 M. Lassnig 81 edition: 100 copies private property, Carinthia
MARIA LASSNIG (1919-2014) VORSCHLAG FÜR EINE PLASTIK ‘DIE FAUST AUFS AUG”, CIRCA 1969-1970 Crayon sur papier Titré, dédicacé ‘für Hans Albert’ et signé en bas à droite Pencil on paper; titled, dedicated ‘für Hans Albert’ and signed lower right 22,5 X 30 CM • 8 7/8 X 11 3/4 IN.
MARIA LASSNIG (1919-2014) SANS TITRE, CIRCA 1980 Crayon gras et crayon sur papier Dédicacé ‘Einen Weihnachtsgruss von Schönbrunn für den lieben Hans Albert’ et signé des initiales en bas à droite Grease pencil and pencil on paper; dedicated ‘Einen Weihnachtsgruss von Schönbrunn für den lieben Hans Albert’ and signed with initials lower right 21 X 29 CM • 8 1/4 X 11 3/8 IN.
MARIA LASSNIG (1919-2014) MELANCHOLIE, 1961 Aquarelle sur papier Signé, titré, daté et dédicacé ‘Für Hans Albert Peters’ en bas à droite Watercolor on paper; signed, titled, dated and dedicated ‘Für Hans Albert Peters’ lower right 70 X 50 CM • 27 1/2 X 19 3/4 IN.
(Kappel, Carinthia, 1919–2014 Vienna) „Innerhalb und außerhalb der Leinwand II“, 1984/85, oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm, framed Registered in: Christa Murken, Maria Lassnig, ihr Leben und ihr malerisches Werk, Ihre kunstgeschichtliche Stellung in der Malerei des 20. Jahrhunderts (mit einem Werkverzeichnis der Gemälde1987) Verlag Murken-Altrogge, 1990, catalog raisonné no. 391 Exhibited and with a full-page colour ill.: Maria Lassnig, Innerhalb und außerhalb der Leinwand, Reinhard Onnasch Galerie Lassnig, Mit dem Kopf durch die Wand, Neue Bilder, Kunstmuseum Lucerne, Lucerne 1989 Neue Galerie Graz Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz 1989 Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg, 1989 Secession, Vienna Ritter Verlag, Klagenfurt 1989, p.49 „Die schaffende Galatea. Frauen sehen Frauen“, Kunsthalle „Talstrasse“ Halle (Saale) 1919, catalog no.42, p.73 Illustrated (in colour) in the catalog: Maria Lassnig, Der Ort der Bilder, Neue Galerie Graz, Universalmuseum Joanneum Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Internationale Kunst und Fotografie, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walter König, 2012, ill. III. 2, illustrated: to the A discussion between Oswald Wiener and Silvia Eiblmayr, moderated by Peter Pakesch Full page color ill. in the catalog: Maria Lassnig. Landleben/Countrylife, Gallery Ulysses, Vienna, 2016 Provenance: Gallery Ulysses, New York (label on the reverse) Reinhard Onnach Galerie, Berlin (label on the reverse) Barbara Gross Gallery, Munich „My heart beats so strongly that the outside world shakes, or is it an earthquake?“ „I have never made or considered the issue of ‚female beauty or not‘ or ‚ female artmaking‘ or male at all; since I have not addressed ‚themes‘ at all, because it is intentional“ Maria Lassing
MARIA LASSNIG Garzern/Kappel am Krappfeld (Kärnten) 1919 - 2014 Wien Ohne Titel. Profil nach links. Farblithographie 1997. Expl. 9/100. Signiert und datiert. 24,5 x 34,2 cm. An den Ecken auf Unterlage montiert. [bg]
LASSNIG, MARIA 1919 Kappel am Krappfeld - 2014 Vienna Title: "ML als Invalide". Date: 2002. Technique: Mixed media on laid paper. Measurement: 31,5 x 22cm. Notation: Signed lower right: M Lassnig. As well as titled and dated upper centre: ML als Invalide 2002. Verso dedicated to Kasper König. Frame/Pedestal: Framed. Provenance: - Collection Kasper König, Berlin (directly from artist) Word artist in Paris and New York Maria Lassnig is a groundbreaking Austrian artist, known for her unique 'Body Awareness Paintings'. She has left her mark on art history with her innovative approach to visualising inner feelings and is considered a pioneer of the feminist art movement. After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, she travelled to Paris for the first time in the early 1950s with Arnulf Rainer. Disappointed by their encounter with the forefather of Surrealism, André Breton, Lassnig and Rainer turned to an abstract exhibition of works by Mathieu and Pollock, which had a lasting effect on their oeuvre. In the 1960s, Lassnig moved to Paris. It was here that she came to the attention of the legendary artist and feminist Nancy Spero, who convinced her to continue her artistic career in New York. There Lassnig succeeded in gaining wider recognition - only at the age of 60. In 1980, the artist returned to Vienna. Body Awareness In her 'Body Awareness Paintings', Maria Lassnig depicts not only the bare body, but rather its inner sensations. In doing so, she thematises the exciting interplay between the external and internal worlds. While the impulses perceived from the outside through the eye release impulses within, inner feelings only have a limited effect on the outside world. It is precisely this gap that Lassnig seeks to close with her oeuvre. ML als Invalide (Maria Lassnig as an invalid) The work 'ML as Invalid' from 2002 shows an impressive exploration of physical self-awareness. The work represents Lassnig's unique style, expressing physical and emotional experiences through dynamic lines and bold colours. She explores the feeling of vulnerability and frailty by depicting her own body in an unusual and alienated pose for the viewer. The yellow background colour enhances the intensity and contrast of the depiction, revealing the fragility yet strength of human existence. Lassnig's work remains a significant contribution to modern art and body perception. Estimated shipping costs for this lot: Germany: 32,77 Euro plus 6,23 Euro VAT EU: 50,42 Euro plus 9,58 Euro VAT Worldwide: 92,44 Euro plus 17,56 Euro VAT additional shipping insurance Explanations to the Catalogue Maria Lassnig Informel Neo-Expressionism Post-War Art Contemporary Art 2000s Framed Artist's Portait Works on paper Mixed media Body
Maria Lassnig 1919 Kappel am Krappfeld - 2014 Wien Self-portrait in NYC. 1969 Signed, dated and inscribed "artist proof" in pencil lower right. Colour serigraph and printed by hand auf vellum. 56 x 45.5 cm. Blattgröße: Sheet size: 73.2 x 53.6 cm. Framed (105 x 87 cm). Es scheint, als beobachte Lassnig ihren Körper nicht nur rein äußerlich, also das, was sieht, wenn sie in den Spiegel schaut, sondern auch ihren Zustand, ihr Gefühl während des Prozesses des Malens, ein situatives Empfinden. Die Wahrnehmungserfahrungen der Künstlerin sind also nicht nur auf das Sinnesorgan Auge beschränkt. Lassnig malt das Äußere und fügt das Innere hinzu. Die Körperempfindungen, die sich in den Selbstporträts der Künstlerin offenbaren und die sie auf die Leinwand bringt, erscheinen als zentrales Moment ihres Schaffens. Lassnig selbst nannte diese Werke später "Körperbewusstseinsbilder". Diese schuf die Künstlerin nicht nur im Stehen, sondern auch liegend oder sitzend, manchmal sogar mit geschlossenen Augen. Werkverzeichnis: Maria Lassnig. Werkverzeichnis der Druckgraphik 1949-1987.Verlag: München, Barbara Gross Galerie, 1988, Nr. 16
Maria Lassnig 1919 Kappel am Krappfeld - 2014 Wien She weaves with divine hands. 1975 Inscribed, monogrammed and dated lower right. Pencil auf drawing paper. 38 x 41 cm. Blattgröße: Sheet size: 59 x 41 cm. Framed (57 x 72 cm).
Maria Lassnig Autograph: Maria Lassnig print, watercolored and inscribed; framed 29 x 20 cm (cut-out) Maria Lassnig, "Traum vom Eheglück", 1965 signed: Maria Lassnig Ich bin ein Künstler und kein "Ausschmücker" ansonsten beste Grüsse M Lassnig private property, Vienna
Maria Lassnig Autograph: Maria Lassnig India ink on paper; framed 13.2 x 20.1 cm inscribed and signed: das heisst signieren? Maria Lassnig private property, Vienna
Maria Lassnig Kopf mit Ohren 1999 print; framed 63 x 89 cm (cut-out) signed and dated on the lower right: M. Lassnig 99 numbered on the lower left: 71/99 edition: 99 pieces private property, Vienna
MARIA LASSNIG* (Kappel am Krappfeld 1919 - 2014 Vienna) Self-portrait color offset print/paper, 40 x 27,5 cm signed in pencil M Lassnig after an original work by the artist "Selfportrait as a native american girl", 1973, oil/canvas, 182,6 x 127 cm ESTIMATE °€ 400 - 800 STARTING PRICE °€ 400 Maria Lassnig. In 1922, her penniless mother Mathilde Gregorc married the baker Jakob Lassnig, and in 1925 Maria moved to Klagenfurt to live with her mother. After graduating from high school, she trained as a primary school teacher. From 1940 to 1941 she worked as a primary school teacher in Metnitztal. In the winter semester of 1940/1941 she began studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Wilhelm Dachauer. When Lassnig painted more colorfully and expressively, differences arose with Dachauer. After his critical remark, “You paint in a completely degenerate way,” she continued her studies in Ferdinand Andri’s class. In January 1945 she completed her studies with a diploma. She received funding awards, including the Carinthia Gaustipendium three times in 1943 and 1944 and in February 1945, after completing her studies, a state travel scholarship, which was paid out due to a lack of travel opportunities. After graduating in 1945, she returned to Klagenfurt and moved into a studio on Heiligengeist-Platz, where she welcomed Klagenfurt's artistic avant-garde: Arnold Clementschitsch, Michael Guttenbrunner, Max Hölzer and Arnold Wande. In 1949 she had her first solo exhibition in Klagenfurt in Edith Kleinmayr's gallery on Alter Platz, where she showed expressionist paintings in the style of “Carinthian colorism”. Around 1948 she met Arnulf Rainer and the two became a couple. Lassnig described surrealism as “liberation from the objective and the intended”. In 1951 she moved back to Vienna; initially Ernst Fuchs gave her his old studio in the 2nd district. In Vienna, Lassnig was active in the artist association “Art Club” and in the more radical “Hundsgruppe”. In 1951, Lassnig received a scholarship from the French Cultural Institute that enabled her to travel to Paris three times. In Paris, Lassnig and Arnulf Lassnig contacted Paul Celan, who arranged a meeting with André Breton, where they also met Benjamin Péret and Toyen. In Paris they saw pictures by Jackson Pollock and Georges Mathieu for the first time and met Jean-Paul Riopelle, who liked the portfolios the two had brought with them. He invited her to his studio and introduced her to Karel Appel, Hans Hartung and Wols. Lassnig learned drypoint etching from Paul Celan's wife Gisèle Lestrange, and she also visited Camille Bryen. Despite the many contacts, Lassnig and Rainer were unable to gain a foothold in Paris or exhibit there.Back in Austria, Lassnig and Rainer organized the controversial exhibition “Young Unfigurative Painting” at the Künstlerhaus Klagenfurt; She formulated the “No Defense” manifesto. In 1954, Lassnig returned to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna to study again for six semesters in Albert Paris Gütersloh's class. Together with Oswald Oberhuber, Wolfgang Hollegha, Josef Mikl, Markus Prachensky and Arnulf Rainer, she belonged to the circle around Monsignor Otto Mauer, the art-loving Viennese cathedral preacher, sponsor and founder of the Galerie nächst St. Stephan. Another important contact was the writers of the “Vienna Group” Friedrich Achleitner, H. C. Artmann, Gerhard Rühm and Oswald Wiener. Together with Arnulf Rainer, she is considered the founder of informal painting in Austria. From 1961 to 1968, Lassnig lived in Paris and painted his first body awareness watercolors as well as two meter high body feeling figurations, which were never exhibited. Her mother died in 1964, and death appears again and again in her pictures. Lassnig decided to emigrate to the USA. She had heard from Nancy Spero that she could be successful as an artist in New York. In 1968 she moved into a studio in the East Village. She attended a screen printing class in Brooklyn; Large-format silk screen prints were created. In 1970 she took an animation course at the School of Visual Arts. She made her first films with a 16 mm film camera. In 1974 she founded, among other things, in New York with Carolee Schneemann, who is 20 years younger than her, the “Women/Artists/Filmmakers”, an association of feminist film-making artists. In 1977, Lassnig's graphic work was shown for the first time in a retrospective at the Albertina in Vienna and at the Kunstverein Kärnten. A DAAD scholarship took her to Berlin in 1978. In 1980 she finally returned to Vienna and took over, among other things, At the instigation of Federal Minister Hertha Firnberg, she led the master class for “design theory – experimental design” at the University of Applied Arts. One condition that she attached to accepting the professorship was the collaboration of the art theorist Heimo Kuchling. She also demanded the same fee as Joseph Beuys. Until she accepted the professorship, she had not been able to make a living from painting and had worked part-time, e.g. B. in New York for an animation studio. In Vienna her students included Guido Hoffmann, Mara Mattuschka, Bady Minck and Sabine Groschup. Together with Valie Export she represented Austria at the Venice Biennale. In 1982 she founded Austria's only teaching studio for animation in her master class. The teaching studio for experimental animated films still exists today. Lassnig's works were exhibited at documenta 7 in 1982 and at documenta X in Kassel in 1997. Numerous solo exhibitions also took place during this period, for example in the Museum of the 20th Century in Vienna, in the Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf and the Kunsthalle Nürnberg, in the Kärntner Landesgalerie, the Galerie Hundertmark in Cologne, the Galerie Onnasch in Berlin, in the Kunstmuseum Lucerne, from In the 1990s also in Paris, New York, The Hague, Frankfurt am Main, Zurich, Munich and Rome. She was awarded the Rubens Prize of the city of Siegen in 2001. In 2004 she received the Max Beckmann Prize from the city of Frankfurt am Main for her “extraordinary contribution to contemporary painting”. On the occasion of her 90th birthday, an extensive solo exhibition by the artist was shown in Munich in 2010, with a focus on the works of the last few years. For the 2005/2006 season she designed the Iron Curtain of the Vienna State Opera with the picture “Breakfast with an Ear”. The motif refers to her painting of the same name from 1967. After her surrealistic beginnings, Lassnig was influential in the newly emerging Informel in Austria in the 1950s. Characteristic of her work is, among other things: a novel representation of physicality that she developed from the late 1940s onwards. Back then, the physically and psychologically highly sensitive artist was already concerned with the concept of “body feeling”. She wanted to visually express physical perceptions that, for her, could dissolve the boundaries between inside and outside. It was only in the 1970s that she coined the term “body awareness” to describe her approach in order to differentiate herself from the “emotional” term “body feeling”. With “Body Awareness,” Lassnig is considered a forerunner of feminist body art and Viennese actionism. Typical of Lassnig's painting is a figuration without simple realistic depiction - Lassnig paints the subject, not the object. So it is always self-portraits enriched with surreal elements that create a strange and very specific suspension between closeness and strangeness. Other recurring themes include science fiction, the relationship to people, animals and technology, and the relationship to violence and war. In addition to paintings, she created sculptures and films and filled notebooks with drawings and texts. An example is the early “Still life with a red self-portrait” from 1969. The self-portrait is reduced to a large red mouth and can represent both ingestion of food and eroticism - perhaps a critical reaction to the Pop Art that was current at the time. Over the years Her self-portraits became more and more drastic, she painted herself as a dumpling or as a calculating machine, for example the “Science Fiction Self-Portrait” from 1980. From the late 1990s onwards, self-portraits with an animal were increasingly added, such as “Frog Queen” (2000). 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(Kappel, Carinthia, 1919–2014 Vienna) „New York 2. Avenue“ signed and dated M. Lassnig 1979 in New York 2. Avenue, watercolor on paper, 91 x 60.5 cm, framed Provenance: Private Collection, Austria Private Collection, Canada (by descent from the above) In the depth of my being, deep down inside, I have always known that I’m good. And I thought to myself, I just don’t understand why others don’t notice it. Maria Lassnig A watercolour is a love affair: subsequent improvements are impossible Maria Lassnig (text on a watercolour) Im tiefsten Grunde, ganz innen drin, hab‘ ich immer gewusst, dass ich gut bin. Und ich hab mir immer gedacht, ich versteh‘ bloß nicht warum die anderen das nicht bemerken. Maria Lassnig Ein Aquarell ist eine Liebesbeziehung: Nachträgliche Verbesserung unmöglich Maria Lassnig (Text auf einem Aquarell)
Maria Lassnig (Austrian, 1919-2014), "Double Self Portrait", Screenprint in Colors, 2008, numbered edition "77/100" and signed in pencil lower left, silver-tone metal frame. Image: 19.5" H x 27.5" W; frame: 29.25" H x 37" W. Keywords: Figurative, Contemporary Art, Portraiture, Prints, Multiples
(Kappel, Carinthia, 1919–2014 Vienna) “This is Terry Quimby”, signed with the monogram, dated ML NY 1976 and titled This is Terry Quimby, oil on canvas, 96 x 80 cm, framed Provenance: Private Collection, Vienna aquired directly from the artist Terry Quimby, a former fashion industry advertising executive and director of an art Gallery, died of heart failure Friday (amended to Saturday 20 March 1990) at her home in Manhattan. She was 86 years old. Mrs. Quimby was born in Manhattan. After graduating from New York University, she began working in the fashion industry, eventually directing the advertising departments of the Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubenstein cosmetics companies. After her retirement in the 1960's, she directed an art gallery, the Capricorn Gallery, in Manhattan… The New York Times, March 19, 1990 Maria Lassnig: Portrait of Terry Quimby, New York, 1976 The slender, seventy-year-old woman looks out of the picture with a sceptical look and folded arms. Only the hint of a smile can be identified. We understand immediately: she is self-confident, knows how to assert herself and has achieved something with her life. Maria Lassnig’s portraits not only capture a person’s appearance, but bring her character to life: “I want to look at people for a long time, to look brazenly into their eyes, and the longer I look, the more I see what comes out. Happiness and unhappiness are banished there by dignity, fearfulness, hope. I can follow that with my own eyes and divine everything as I wield the pen or brush.” This expressive painting depicts Terry Quimby, born in 1906, a New York fashion designer who ran the Capricorn Gallery in New York. She started the gallery during her retirement in the 1960s and predominantly exhibited female artists. The portrait was painted in 1976, while Maria Lassnig was living in New York (1968 to 1980). Lassnig met Quimby through Inga Kelbert, a top manager and millionaire friend, whom she also painted. Portraiture was an important source of income for the artist, who was chronically short of money. Later, she would combine these works into a series: The New York Portraits. She painted gallery owners, collectors and numerous friends, similar to the then little-known artist Alice Neel (1900 – 1984). Today, Neel’s unsparing portraits hang in all the major American museums. Lassnig met the artist in New York and visited her in her studio. At that time, she also drew inspiration from Pop Art, but used this – as here – in her own unmistakable way and in conjunction with her unique approach to colour. In contrast to the other New York portraits, she places Terry Quimby not in front of a turquoise background but a white one. A good decision, because it brings out the contrast between her pink turtleneck and her blue-green hair particularly well: Maria Lassnig is a master of colour. Natalie Lettner
(Kappel, Carinthia, 1919–2014 Vienna) “Der rote Zorn”, (The red rage) 1984, signed Maria Lassnig on the reverse, oil on canvas, 72 x 65 cm, framed „Der rote Zorn” was signed by Maria Lassnig in 2013 in the foundation in the presence of Hans Werner Poschauko. Illustrated and registered: Maria Lassnig. Ihr Leben und ihr malerisches Werk, Ihre kunstgeschichtliche Stellung in der Malerei des 20. Jahrhunderts, Verlag Murken-Altrogge, 1990, p. 23 (ill.), p. 473/379 Provenance: Kunsthaus Lempertz, 28 May 2003, lot 243 Im Kinsky, 19 March 2013, lot 116 Private Collection, Vienna One has to have seen or felt the world, that is, one must know something specific, in order to grasp it and to make it. And not only to stand in passing or in the dark. He only paints because he likes the names of the colours: sepia, umber, titanium white, phthalo green, cerulean blue. Maria Lassnig. Die Feder ist die Schwester des Pinsels. Tagebücher 1943-1997. published by Hans Ulrich Obrist. Du Mont. 2000 ...Physical sensation is visually difficult to define, where does it begin, where does it end, what shape does it have, pointed, round, jagged - and to explore this is like fencing in clouds, pinning down realms of mist, physical mysticism. I almost have to apologise, as actual bodies were created in an undertaking that sounds more like research than art. This is because my knowledge of the real distances between forehead and nose, neck and chest, was not switched off and left as artistic compromise. What appears to be a deformation of reality is not, because reality takes place on another level, the emotional level. If this often seems congruent with what is visually perceptible, it is because my sense of distance, trained on external things, has become blind certainty. Thus, external reality, which everyone sees on the body, becomes congruent with felt reality, which is so difficult to define. Maria Lassnig From: Catalogue, Museum Moderner Kunst/Museum of the 20th Century, Vienna 1985
Maria Lassnig "Gefallenes Mädchen" 1962/63 oil on canvas; framed 120 x 100 cm signed and dated on the lower right: M. Lassnig 1962-63 study on the reverse, c. 1959/60 directly from the artist; formerly collection Otto Breicha; since then private property, Vienna 2010 Kulturverein Greith-Haus, St. Ulrich im Greith Kulturverein Greith-Haus, Helena Wallner (Hg), Klassiker der Moderne, Von A wie Attersee bis Z wie Zeppel-Sperl. St. Ulrich im Greith 2010, p. 22. At the end of November 1960, the 41-year-old Maria Lassnig left Vienna and moved to the "centre of the art-brewing cauldron", Paris (Maria Lassnig, in: Natalie Lettner, Maria Lassnig. Die Biografie [The Biography], Vienna 2017, p. 152). She cites artistic and private reasons for this decision: "At the time, the Actionists had already started. It got on my nerves, all that masculine posturing. As a woman, I was also deeply disappointed because I was constantly being cheated on. It was pretty crowded in Vienna. There were four men around the Galerie St. Stephan [Wolfgang Hollegha, Josef Mikl, Markus Prachenksy and Arnulf Rainer, with whom Maria Lassnig also had a brief affair] and I had no place there. I simply didn't want to be here anymore." (Maria Lassnig, in: Lettner, p. 151). Even though she had received recognition as a member of the Art Club, with exhibitions at the Strohkoffer and, as one of the few women, a solo exhibition at the Galerie St. Stephan as well, she left Austria. This was a pattern that would later be repeated in France, when, well-connected and having achieved her first exhibition successes, she would pull up stakes and head for New York in 1968. With her first abstract paintings of bodily feelings and "Tachistische Knödelselbstportraits" ("Tachist dumpling self-portraits") of the 1950s, Maria Lassnig "opens up a vast, unknown terrain, such as few artists have entered, even at the beginning of the modern era" (Wolfgang Drechsler, introductory text in: Maria Lassnig, exhibition catalogue, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, 20er Haus, Vienna; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, Nantes 1999). The body is not painted as seen from the outside, but as felt from the inside. The line becomes an expression of the artist’s own physiological state. In the early 1960s, the figurative returned, becoming the expression of a painterly introspection. Highly concentrated and with meditative slowness, Maria Lassnig painted bodily feelings, sometimes with her eyes closed, lying next to the canvas. Body sensations are also expressed by means of colour. "Pressure points, tensions, compressions and stretchings – absolutely every ‘small’ feeling is recorded on the canvas" (Maria Lassnig. Das neunte Jahrzehnt [ "The ninth decade"]), exhibition catalogue, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna 2009, p. 31) and connoted in colour. In this picture we see an eyeless head with an enormously bloated brain that sightlessly refuses to communicate with the viewer. This outsized form is accompanied by a pale-looking body outlined in red, with bent knees and helplessly flailing arms. Only the chin, rendered in vibrant red and reminiscent of an animal’s snout, looks determined. Such hybrid hermaphrodites and the artificial colouring, in which shades of red and purple contrast with vivid yellowish-green backgrounds, are typical of Maria Lassnig's work, which is among the most important that Austrian contemporary art has produced, even by international standards. (Sophie Cieslar)
Maria Lassnig "Zornbild - Süsse Wiener Herzerln" 1984 oil on canvas; framed 204.5 x 134.5 cm signed, inscribed and dated on the lower right: MLassnig, Zornbild 84, Süsse Wiener Herzerln directly acquired from the artist; since 1997 private property, Vienna The artist – easily recognisable by the typical head shape with high cheekbones – is being attacked by two men. One of them, snarling, is making a grab at her, and the other – an armoured robot or warrior – is poking around in her head like a devil with his pitchfork, while simultaneously reaching deep into her throat. Nonetheless, their victim fights back and bites – a "Zornbild" ("picture of rage"), as the title suggests. The surge of emotion is directed at the scheming "Süsse Wiener Herzerln" ("Sweet Viennese Hearts"), depicted – as so often in Lassnig’s work – in intense pink and orange shades against a turquoise background and with her own unique brand of black humour: the men have heart-shaped buttocks, and the artist herself a heart-shaped pelvis. It’s interesting that she self-critically ranks herself among the Viennese hearts. Among the snake pits that caused Lassnig particular suffering were the art market and the competitive relationships in the art scene. She experienced the University of Applied Arts Vienna, where she held a professorship from 1980 to 1989, as a macho world full of top dogs. And as much as she loved her students, she found teaching and the accompanying "Sprechzwang" ("compulsion to talk") exhausting: this is the title of another painting from those years. As in that work, here too she depicts a stressful situation as a physical experience: she is being harassed, her mind is under attack and people are trying to tear the words out of her body. Quite independently of the biographical background, the painting portrays a cycle of violence. Incidentally, "Gewaltsamkeit" ("Violence") originally formed part of the title but is today only faintly visible and crossed out. (Natalie Lettner)
Maria Lassnig Ligeti, Christofberg, Keine Schönfärberei 1980 graphite on paper; unframed 61 x 43 cm inscribed and dated: Ligeti, Christofberg, Keine Schönfärberei 1980 directly from the artist; since then private property, Carinthia
Maria Lassnig Untitled watercolour on paper; unframed 61 x 43 cm monogrammed on the lower right: ML directly from the artist; since then private property, Carinthia
silkscreen on paper signed "Maria Lassnig" in the silk lower right, numbered lower left: 68/250 print size 15,2 x 20,3 in Arguably the greatest woman artist of 20th century Austrian art, Maria Lassnig´s heritage and influence is still felt in the waves of New Figuration. She lived and worked in Paris as well as in New York for periods in her life, and the many influences of these bustling metropoli shaped both her reputation and skillset as an artist. Solo exhibitions of her work were among other organized in Munich, New York, Basel, and of course Vienna. Published by: Bank Austria/Vienna
silkscreen on paper signed "Maria Lassnig" in the silk lower right, numbered lower left: 68/250 print size 15,2 x 20,3 in Arguably the greatest woman artist of 20th century Austrian art, Maria Lassnig´s heritage and influence is still felt in the waves of New Figuration. She lived and worked in Paris as well as in New York for periods in her life, and the many influences of these bustling metropoli shaped both her reputation and skillset as an artist. Solo exhibitions of her work were among other organized in Munich, New York, Basel, and of course Vienna. Published by: Bank Austria/Vienna
