Reclining Girl

In conservative fin de siècle Vienna, Klimt's depictions of women regularly elicited scandal and were criticized as immoral and pornographic. This drawing is more restrained and noticeably flatter than earlier drawings-perhaps as a result of Klimt's exposure to modernist painting. The figure fills up the page in an arrangement of curling, undulating lines and clear, defined pencil strokes, her lower half covered in a swath of fabric that calls to mind the rich patterns of Klimt's decorative paintings. An undeniably masculine perspective is supported by the absence of detail in his female subject and her naiveté and indifference to the artist's presence.