Gustav Klimt: Erotic Drawings

New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1980. Hardcover. Fine. Klimt, Gustav. Elephant folio size, [92] pp., illustrated, in clamshell box with original shipping carton. A selection of erotic drawings by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), published from a private collection focused on the nude female form, most in frankly erotic poses. Klimt began his career in a conventional style, but as he developed his work became intensely personal, focusing on the beauty and eroticism of the female form. When he completed the ceiling of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna in 1900 the paintings were criticised as being pornographic, which led him to no longer accept public commissions; sadly, these paintings were destroyed in 1945 by SS troops when the Nazis were in retreat from the city. While his style is certainly frankly erotic, his talent has been confirmed by the prices recently brought by his paintings, which are some of the highest recorded for individual works of art.

___DESCRIPTION: Cream cloth with author stamped in blind, inlaid paper label to upper board with one of Klimt's illustrations, gilt lettering on the spine, cream-coloured endpapers, frontispiece one of thirty-five full-page facsimiles, volume opens with a lengthy essay "Klimt: Drawing Against Morality" followed by the thirty-five plates, each printed on one side only and numbered, followed by the plate descriptions; elephant folio size (16.5" by 12.25"), pagination: [1-4] 5-87 [1 colophon], first English language edition. Housed within a tray in the original large (21" by 17") clamshell box with title stamped similarly in blind and gilt facsimile of Klimt's signature to upper board, this encased in the original shipping carton with the Abrams logo stamped in green all over.

___CONDITION: A fine copy, the covers clean, the corners straight and unrubbed, the binding tight with solid hinges, the interior clean and bright, and free of prior owner markings; clean, crisp, as new. The clamshell box is overall fine, strong and sturdy, clean and unrubbed, a few faint spots of foxing to the cloth and a shallow indentation to the front edge of the bottom of the box (likely as it came from the publisher, as we don't believe this copy was ever used); the shipping carton sunned and with light overall wear.

___POSTAGE: Please note that this is an extremely large and heavy book, and therefore additional postage will apply. We are happy to ship at cost to both domestic and international customers, please inquire for details.

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