FRIEDRICH VIKTOR SPITZER (1854–1922) Lot n° 3

FRIEDRICH VIKTOR SPITZER (1854-1922) | Gustav Klimt, Vienna c. 1906 Image Size: 29,6 x 23 cm English: Photogravure on thin cream colored paper 38,4 x 27,4 cm, flush-mounted on original cardboard 62,3 x 47,9 cm, in perfect condition. Photographer's initials in the left lower margin, typographically "Dr. F. V. Spitzer fecit" and facsimile signature of Gustav Klimt in engraving below the image (two different printing techniques on the same plate 38.8 x 27.7 cm). PROVENANCE Private Collection, Vienna. Friedrich V. Spitzer was a chemist with a doctorate, industrialist and amateur photographer, he had already been a member of the London "Linked Ring" since 1892 and of the Vienna Camera Club since 1897. He belonged to the circle of pictorialists around Heinrich Kühn, Hugo Henneberg and Hans Watzek and, like them, experimented with various print techniques. His portraits of artist friends appeared only in very small editions, including the present photograph of Gustav Klimt. The painter is wearing one of his legendary linen coats and is sitting in his studio in Josefstädter Straße in a fauteuil made of rosewood with geometric inlays designed by Josef Hoffmann and executed by the Wiener Werkstätte (the furniture is now in the Leopold Museum). The composition is of extreme precision in the balance of light and dark values as well as the geometry of the picture, and at the same time shows the main representative of Art Nouveau in expressive characterisation, to which the staging of the hands also contributes. Compared to the Klimt portraits of Moriz Nähr and Madame d'Ora, this photogravure is unknown and most probably unique. German: Photogravure on thin cream paper 38,4 x 27,4 cm, laminated on original backing cardboard 62,3 x 47,9 cm, in excellent condition. In the lower left margin initials of the photographer, below the image typographically "Dr. F. V. Spitzer fecit" and facsimile signature of Gustav Klimt in engraving (two different printing techniques on the same plate 38,8 x 27,7 cm). PROVENIENCE Private collection, Vienna. Friedrich V. Spitzer was a chemist with a doctorate, industrialist and amateur photographer, already a member of the London "Linked Ring" since 1892 and of the Vienna Camera Club since 1897. He belonged to the circle of pictorialists around Heinrich Kühn, Hugo Henneberg and Hans Watzek. His portraits of artist friends were published only in very small editions, including the present photograph of Gustav Klimt. The painter wears one of his legendary linen smocks and sits in the Josefstadt studio in a rosewood fauteuil with geometric inlays designed by Josef Hoffmann (the furniture, executed by the Wiener Werkstätte, is now in the Leopold Museum). The composition is of extreme precision in the geometry of the picture as well as in the balance of light and dark values, and at the same time shows the main representative of Art Nouveau in expressive characterization, to which the staging of the hands also contributes. Compared to the Klimt portraits of Moriz Nähr and Madame d'Ora, this photogravure is unknown until now and most likely a unique specimen.