2795 - Max Klinger (1857 Leipzig – 1920 Großjena near Naumburg)

Max Klinger (1857 Leipzig – 1920 Großjena near Naumburg) Head of the "New Salome." Original title Bronze, black patina, ca. 1903. Signed "M. Klinger"; foundry inscription “AKT. GES. v. H. GLADENBECK u. SOHN. BERLIN-FRIEDRICHSHAGEN.” The earliest and largest cast version of the bronze. Head composed on a small columnar plinth with a clasp-shaped torso. Alongside his “Beethoven,” Klinger’s “New Salome” is his best-known figure. Klinger was fascinated by the theme of the “femme fatale” and worked intensively on the “New Salome” beginning in 1886. He initially created it as a half-figure in painted plaster (1887/88), and later completed it in marble and other materials (1892/93). Around 1900, Klinger was considered one of Europe’s most significant modern artists. The biblical figure of Salome, triumphing over men, was not only a subject for Klinger but also, particularly through Oscar Wilde’s play, the illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley (1893) and Marcus Behmer (1903), as well as legendary theatrical productions in the early 20th century, With Klinger’s approval, Gladenbeck in Berlin-Friedrichshagen produced smaller bronze casts of the “New Salome” (so-called “reductions”). In one version, he even detached the head from the body, transforming it into a work of art in its own right—a technique that Wilhelm Lehmbruck would later employ in a similar manner. Bronze casts of the head were produced by the Gladenbeck foundry in Berlin from around 1903 in two sizes: approximately 37 cm and 68 cm. One example is held by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. H. 68.2 cm. Black-patinated bronze, circa 1903. Signed “M. Klinger.” Inscribed by the foundry “AKT. GES. v. H. GLADENBECK u. SOHN. BERLIN-FRIEDRICHSHAGEN.”