Girl with flowerbranch ca. 1900-1905

Bust portrait of a young woman with bared breast in profile left, in front of a river landscape. She holds in her left hand a branch of flowers, on which two butterflies are sitting. The young woman wears only a white cape cloth, which exposes her upper body. Her reddish-brown hair is pinned up, on it a small richly decorated cap. In the background wide river landscape, on the shore willows and deciduous trees, sky and clouds in the golden morning light.

JQAW# G_1900_070
Oil on wood 60 x 47 cm
Signature John Q. Ɑdams
Unknown private collection

This small-format study is identified as an early work by Adams, probably painted before 1905, based on the subject, the "client-friendly" (i.e. small) format, and the signature. It shows clear influences of Jugendstil (girl, flowering branch) as well as influences of Viennese Mood-Impressionism (landscape background). The painting, like similar early works intended for sale, was never exhibited and is documented only through art auctions.

Cross-references

Exhibited

Literature

Provenance

Unknown.
1948 Dorotheum Vienna auction 23.11.1948 Lot 1.
Unknown.
2006 Auktionshaus Zeller, Deutschland Auktion 20.4.2006 (not sold).
2008 Dorotheum Graz Auktion 4.12.2008 Lot 58 (not sold).
Unknown private collection.