Koloman Moser

The drawing is the most direct expression of the artistic idea in fine arts and thus advancing the painting. The latter consolidates the idea of the image in a total composition by integrating the single motifs which have been gathered by drawing. Various works by Kolo Moser reveal this consistent and carefully considered method of painting after classical rules: nude studies explore the anatomical position of a figure, studies of garment the further shape, and composition studies the figure’s position within the pictorial space. As of crucial significance for Moser finally coloristic issues are considered. For the graphic representation of the lady, who is drying after bathing, so far no painting with this motif can’t be named. Thus “Female Standing Nude” represents one of Moser’s studies where the motif is freely dealt by the artist and in which the artist’s intention of expression and shaping becomes obviously. The everyday occurrence of the figure’s situation is far off any symbolistic connotation and generates the occasion for a figural study which reflects the pleasant feelings after having a bath. Everything is subject of a harmonious flow of movement: the shape of the body is represented by fluent lines; the hands, which hold the drying towel around the head, and the hairs, which imperceptibly merge into the towel, visualise the pleasure of intense physicality. Referring to this the present drawing can be included into a series of nude studies realized by Kolo Moser in 1912. They share the barely discontinuously executed outline which completes the physicality of the figures in organic curves. These single drawings differ from most other drawings by Moser where thicker lines and hatchings grasp the bodies as powerful sculptural forms. With regard to the motif the present nude refers to the same person who was represented on a dedicated sheet which Moser handed over to the Darmstadt publisher Alexander Koch on the 25th anniversary of the publishing company. With regard to the subject the female nude with a cloth reminds of the Three Graces (cat. rais. no. 152) as well as of Venus in the Grotto, a motif Moser executed repeatedly and very extensively from 1914 to 1916 (cat. rais. no. 154, 155, 157, 182, 183, 194, 195 and 196). This proves that the nude study was an essential part of Moser’s motif range without reappearing in detail in one of his paintings.