Else Wohlgemuth 1917 WANTED!
Profile portrait Else Wohlgemuth, Hofburgtheater actress.
Possibly in antic theater role.
Described as "colorful".
JQAW# P_1917_080
Oil on canvas 85 x 60 cm
Signature: John Quincy Ɑdams 1917
Portrait lost, WANTED!
Else Wohlgemuth 1.1.1881 Berlin to 30.5.1972 Vienna, celebrated Burgtheater actress.
Birth, youth and education in Berlin, first roles at the Schauspielhaus Berlin and the Hoftheater Schwerin-Mecklenburg. 1909 guest performance as Elektra, then engagement at the Vienna Hofburg Theater, appointed court actress in 1913. 1918 Marriage to Count Emmerich Karl Maria Graf von Thun und Hohenstein (1876-1957), no descendants. In 1938 she was banned from working for racial reasons and went into emigration, but returned to the Burgtheater in 1945, where she was active until 1959. She played a total of 109 roles, mainly in the classical repertoire (stellar performance as Maria Stuart; Elektra, Desdemona, Iphigenie, Maid of Orleans, Minna von Barnhelm, etc.) but also excelled in the comic repertoire. Described by critics as "born queen of the classical repertoire" (Ernst Haeussermann).
Honors: 1913 Court Actress, 1926 Golden Badge of Honor of the Republic of Austria, 1934 Honorary Member of the Burgtheater, 1935 Honorary Ring of the Burgtheater, 1982 Naming of Wohlgemuthgasse in Vienna's 22nd district.
Adams made the portrait of Else Wohlgemuth in the war year 1917 and dedicated it to charitable purposes. It was exhibited in the course of a charity auction in favor of the tuberculosis care of the Red Cross in the Palais Auersperg in May 1917 (exhibition and auction catalog lot 61) and subsequently auctioned. Since then it has been lost. Press reports from the exhibition describe it as a profile portrait and as "colorful and lively." The relatively small format for Adams standards could indicate that it is a portrait sketch. There may be also a reference to his pastel portrait study depicting an actress in antique costume, which was exhibited at the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 1910 (see cross-references). Adams' portrait of Else Wohlgemuth is the only one from the large number of notable Viennese artists that is not documented in an illustration. It is therefore urgently sought for reasons of both art and cultural history. The hope is upheld that the picture has been preserved in a theater-loving family.
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Cross-references
Else Wohlgemuth, Profile Photoportrait Atelier Setzer 1918
Else Wohlgemuth, Profile Photoportrait Atelier Setzer 1917
Else Wohlgemuth, Profile Photoportrait Atelier Setzer 1917
Else Wohlgemuth Profile Photoportrait Atelier Setzer undat.
Else Wohlgemuth, undat. Portrait by W.V. Krausz, Honor Gallery Burgtheater Vienna.
Exhibited
1917 Palais Auersperg Vienna.
Literature
APH, catalog raisonné JQA 1995, p. 166, cat.#134, no ill.
Provenance
Unknown.
Portrait lost.