Franz von Stuck

Franz von Stuck's overall work is characterised by costumes in exotic costumes - his numerous role portraits of his daughter Mary in Spanish costume, whether as a toreador or as the Infanta after Diego Velasquez's famous painting of the Infanta Margareta Theresa in the Prado in Madrid, are well known. There are also many female portraits as Egyptians, Romans or Greeks, all of which have in common that they are surrounded by an aura of mystery and enigma - quite literally, as the sitter is usually unknown. This also applies to our portrait, which adds a new aspect to Stuck's work in terms of exoticism, focussing on a non-European culture: It shows an unknown lady in an elaborately embroidered Japon kimono, who is looking at the viewer, but she has her head slightly tilted back - a self-confident, almost challenging gesture full of sensuality. She radiates an unselfconsciousness and naturalness that clearly distinguishes her from Stuck's other posed and posed stagings. As is so often the case with Stuck, the sitter and the background seem to merge into one another because they are barely distinguishable in terms of colour and the streaky painting style, but the red collar and the knotted obi belt, which forms a kind of pedestal for the bust, are all the more radiant. The young woman is heavily made up with a small red mouth, red rouge on her cheeks and a light complexion, perhaps reminiscent of the doll-like porcelain effect of Japon geishas. She wears two hairpins, the traditional kanzashi, in her full hair, which is laid back on her forehead. These were used as lucky charms and in more recent times were usually only worn by brides. Whether the sitter is really a bride remains to be seen. Since Japon first presented itself to the West at the World Exhibition in Vienna in 1873 after centuries of isolation and the first Japon exhibition in Germany took place in Munich in 1885, the city was gripped by a veritable Japon fever. In particular, the operetta "Der Mikado", performed at the Gärtnerplatztheater in 1886, shaped the image of Japon as a Western fantasy with lavish costumes and sensual music - as a result, up to a hundred shops are said to have supplied Munich society with Japanese fabrics, utensils and jewellery. When "The Mikado" was performed again in Munich in 1889, Franz von Lenbach painted the popular actor Konrad Dreher in his role as the Mikado; Julius Exter had already painted a portrait of his fellow student at the art academy, Harada Naojiro, and Emil Orlik had travelled to Japon in 1900, where he gained impressions that would influence his artistic work from then on. Around the same time, Stuck also paid homage to Japanese fashion when he painted our portrait. In the same year, he also painted the same model "a la Japonaise" in profile (see Sotheby's London, 6 June 2012, lot 19). The painting goes back to a photograph taken at the same time, in which Franz or Mary Stuck photographed the model in profile (Munich, Museum Villa Stuck, Ph-P-94/797-61). It is very likely that there was also a photograph for our painting, now lost or not surviving, which served Stuck as a model. We now know that Stuck utilised the new technique of photography by painting from his own photographs. Stuck also continued his "Japon studies" around 1900, when he photographed the model Lydia Feez in a kimono and also painted her in 1900. (Voss 206/516). A photograph taken before 1902 indicates that the painting was still in the Villa Stuck studio at this time (ill., see "Franz von Stuck. Die Sammlung des Museums Villa Stuck", ed. by Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker, edited by Barbara Hardtwig, Munich 1997, p. 2/3) and may have already come from there into the possession of Stuck's pupil Max Ackermann. Dr Peter Prange