Kaiserjäger head studies 1916

Nine head studies of Tyrolean Kaiserjäger composed of four smaller canvas fragments. The head studies with one exception with view from the left, head slightly turned sideways, or in profile view. Two head studies subsequently identified in pencil by another hand.

JQAW# P_1916_070
Oil on canvas 102 x 74 cm
Signature: John Quincy Ɑdams 1916
Kaiserjägermuseum Berg Isel, Innsbruck KJ/389.

The portrait studies of the 9 Tyrolean Kaiserjäger (crew and non-commissioned officers) with their awards, which are full of character, served in preparation for the monumental painting "Kaiserjägerhuldigung" (Archduke heir to the throne Karl Franz Joseph visits the 3. Regiment of Tyrolean Kaiserjäger in Val della Lazza, May 1916 -- greeting by the Kaiserjäger troops). The Kaiserjäger were regular infantry troops recruited mainly from Tyrol and Vorarlberg, the head commander being normally a member of the Imperial family, Archduke Karl (later emperor Karl I) in this case. Adams began the monumental Kaiserjägerhuldigung on the Dolomite Front in 1916 but never completed it.

Only two of the sitters are identified by name, but the accurate characterization of these Tyrolean originals speak directly to the viewer and are an important document of Adams' wartime portraits, which otherwise tended to focus on emperors, generals, and other senior military personnel. Adams must have particularly appreciated these head studies, as they were published in the press several times (including in the Adams obituary in 1933 in the magazine Die Bühne issue 349) and were also exhibited in his studio. The study remaind in the possession of the artist until his death and then passed to his widow Frances Adams-Fritsch, New York. She gifted the study to the Berg Isel museum in 1974 where it is on permanent display. Other exhibitions: 1917 Künstlerhaus Wien No. 19; 2017 Ivano Fracena, Italy.

Cross-references

Exhibited

1917 Künstlerhaus Wien No. 19

2017 Ivano Fracena, Italy.

Literature

Provenance

Until 1933 with the artist.
1933-1974 his widow Frances Adams-Fritsch New York.
1974 gift to
Kaiserjägermuseum Berg Isel, Innsbruck KJ/389.