Rudolf Jettmar (Austrian, 1869-1939)
"Self-Portrait"
1896/1930-31
oil on canvas, framed
approx. 53 x 39 cm
signed, dated 96, and inscribed "Rom," bottom center left
Conserved by Andrea Rothe (formerly, Getty Museum) and Jeanne McKee-Rothe (formerly, Norton Simon Museum).
PROVENANCE
Jettmar’s Self-Portrait (1896) was in his estate (Nachlass) upon his death, from which it passed to his son the noted anthropologist Karl Jettmar (1918-2002) and then within the family in Baden-Württemberg until its sale at Karl & Faber Kunstauktionen, Munich, on June 5, 2014 (Auction 256, Lot 522).
EXHIBITIONS
1975 Rudolf Jettmar, Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg, Germany
1978-79 Rudolf Jettmar, Kurpfälzisches Museum, Heidelberg, Germany
2000 SeelenReich – Die Entwicklung des deutschen Symbolismus 1870-1920 [Kingdom of the Soul – Symbolist Art in Germany 1870-1920], Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, England; and Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm, Sweden
2013 Dekadenz – Positionen des österreichischen Symbolismus [Decadence – Aspects of Austrian Symbolism], Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
LITERATURE
1975 Rudolf Jettmar (Regensburg: Ostdeutsche Galerie, 1975), cat no.23, illustrated on catalogue cover and at p.44.
1984 Hans H. Hofstätter, Rudolf Jettmar (Vienna: Tusch, 1984), illustrated at p. 57; the catalogue raisonne.
1992 Annalia Delneri, et al., Simbolismo Secessione -- Jettmar ai confine dell’Impero, (Gorizia: Castello di Gorizia, 1992), illustrated at p. 31.
2000 Ingrid Ehrhardt and Simon Reynolds, eds., SeelenReich – Die Entwicklung des deutschen Symbolismus 1870-1920 (Munich, London, and New York: Prestel, 2000), cat. no. 159, illustrated in catalogue at p. 273. English edition: Kingdom of the Soul – Symbolist Art in Germany 1870-1920.
2013 Dekadenz – Positionen des österreichischen Symbolismus (Vienna: Belvedere, 2013), illustrated in catalogue at p. 57 and p.159. English edition: Decadence – Aspects of Austrian Symbolism.
DISCUSSION:
Rudolf Jettmar (1869-1939) was one of the leading Symbolist artists in fin-de-siècle Vienna. A contemporary of Gustav Klimt, Jettmar was a founding member of the Viennese Secession in 1898; a contributor to the art nouveau magazine Ver Sacrum, 1898-1903; and a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, from 1910.
Painted in Rome after receiving the Prix de Rome in 1895, Jettmar’s “Self-Portrait at Age 27” is a psychologically-charged portrait of the brooding, perhaps melancholy, young artist. The allegorical frieze at the top of the painting is a procession of life, from right to left; and the portrait is thus, it seems, a reflection on life, death, and the inexorable passing of time, from youth to old age.
Jettmar’s “Self-Portrait at Age 27,” is one of the icons of Symbolist portraiture. It has been featured in a number of exhibitions, including two of the most important surveys of German-Austrian Symbolist art: “Kingdom of the Soul: Symbolist Art in Germany, 1870-1920,” Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main (and other venues), 2000, and “Decadence: Aspects of Austrian Symbolism,” The Belvedere, Vienna, 2013.
The Daulton Collection owns one of the world’s largest private collections of Rudolf Jettmar’s work.
"His self-portrait is thoroughly influenced by the tradition of academic historicism, but goes beyond that and shows a very intimate image of his artistic and personal nature. The image can be captured in three levels: the front level, which shows the artist in his physical presence, the back level, which represents his intellectual creativity, and a third level, which results from a horizontal division of the background. This third level, completely dipped in black, symbolizes the dark soul of the artist. It is interesting how he presents this division not only in composition but also in the use of light. So his face in the lower area, especially around the mouth, is illuminated, but his eyes and forehead are in the dark and moved back into the background. An indication of this worldly and otherworldliness can be found in the image frieze depicting the ages and the passing of beauty and life. An incredibly exciting, impressive and symbolically charged portrait of a doubt-filled artist."
