"Who is that Person" Annotated Bibliography

"Gustav Klimt: Mada Primavesi (1903-2000) (64.148)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. 01 February 2009 http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/artn/ho_64.148.htm

This online resource reveals who the young girl in Gustav Klimt’s painting entitled Mada Primavesi really was. The portrait’s title refers to the child’s name. Both the elegance of the name and the beauty of the ornate dress lead the viewer to believe that she was born into the upper class. Although the article did not state outright that she is a wealthy child, it states that her father was a banker and an industrialist and that her mother was an actress. This fact explains her sophisticated dress and ornate headpiece for a girl only nine years in age. This source comes from The Metropolitan Museum of Art and very clear and concise when providing information about Klimt’s 1912 portrait of Mada Primavesi.

“Gustav Klimt Landscapes.” Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. 2002. 01 February 2009 http://www.clarkart.edu/exhibitions/klimt/klimt/bio.cfm.
This online source was very useful in giving an inside look on Klimt’s affect on art in his time (he lived from 1862 to 1918). Klimt’s works of art were usually very public, for example, he painted murals on very prominent buildings within cities. Being a figure in society’s eye, Klimt received a lot of criticism mostly for his realist and fantastical style before the 1900’s. The source leads me to believe that his mature style came only ten years before his death when he focused more on portraits (like that of Mada Primavesi). However, unlike his picture of Mada Primavesi many of his portraits were very erotic and also very controversial to the time.

Partch, Susanna. Gustav Klimt: Painter of Women. New York: Prestel-Verlag, 1994.
The pages of this book are not only filled with beautiful portraits, but also insight into the mastermind behind these works of art. Many of Klimt’s works were of women in the nude, sometimes portrayed erotically and other times in a serene and peaceful manner. Throughout his life Klimt was quite a womanizer, reportedly having affairs with many of his models, even while he maintained a steady relationship with Emilie Floge. He threw himself into his art and refused to marry Floge because he didn’t want anything to interfere with his painting. His works took many years, for example his portrait of Mada Primavesi took many pencil sketches before he was satisfied with the look of the painting. His final decision on the background gave the painting an innocent and decorative look to complement that of the nine year old Mada Primavesi.