ILLUSTRATED CHRONOLOGY OF GERSTL’S KNOWN WORKS
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Gerstl’s existing oeuvre can be said to span a short six or seven year period from after his first exit from the class of Professor Christian Griepenkerl at the General School of Painting (Allgemeine Malerschule), part of the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien, in summer 1901 to just before his death in November 1908. Examination of the unpublished papers of Otto Breicha, in particular those relating to Breicha’s relationship with Gerstl’s brother, Alois, reveal several previously undetected portraits, which, together with other currently available sources and publications, bring the number of Gerstl’s known works to 88, of which 18 are lost.
The works themselves suggest five distinctive phases, each accessed by clicking on its individual link below. These, in turn provide a briefly notated, illustrated chronological table of the specific period, as well as links to all known associated museums and galleries. Alternatively, a list of links, in chronological order to each one of Gerstl’s known works can be found at the foot of the page, whilst greater details and deeper analysis in respect of each can be found in the main thesis (password protected).
1. Gerstl’s Works, 1902-1905 This period covers Gerstl’s paintings from around the time of his exit from the Akademie in summer 1901 to his return in 1904 and the end of his second spell in Griepenkerl’s class in 1905.
2. Gerstl’s Works, 1906 – June 1907 A time of transition in Gerstl’s life, spanning the first major van Gogh Vienna show in January 1906, Gerstl’s entry into Schönberg’s circle in spring 1906 and the months leading up to his departure for his first vacation with the Schönbergs.
3. Gerstl’s Works, Gmunden 1907 A short period of perhaps 9 or 10 weeks spent with the Schönbergs in Gmunden, during which Gerstl, often painting plein-air, produced a series of landscapes and portraits that saw an extraordinary development in his art.
4. Gerstl’s Works, Autumn 1907 – Spring 1908 The months between Gerstl’s two joint holidays with the Schönbergs, a period during which Gerstl took a new studio in 68/70 Liechtensteinstrasse, the tenement building where Schönberg lived.
5. Gerstl’s Works, Summer 1908 to his Suicide The four short months from his arrival in Gmunden at the end of June 1908 to his suicide on 4 November saw Gerstl paint some of the most original works to emanate from fin-de-siecle Vienna, including a series of life-size portraits of the Schönberg circle that established Gerstl as the first Austrian Expressionist.
NOTES
All paintings displayed throughout are referenced by “RG” numbers i.e. RG1, RG2 etc. These, though, relate to each work’s appearance within the main thesis and, whilst generally following Gerstl’s timeline, do not always match their chronological position, which, notably in respect of lost works, are occasionally best assumptions.
Each work is also referenced to its number in the Nachlassverzeichnis* (inventory) published 1974 by Otto Kallir, the art dealer who discovered Gerstl’s works in 1931. However, only a proportion of the works catalogued by him were exhibited in the first exhibition of Gerstl’s works that, as Otto Nirenstein,** he mounted at his Neue Galerie in Vienna on 28 September 1931. Several more were then added to the show on 17 October 1931. The status and dates of each work as regards their exhibition or otherwise at the Neue Galerie 1931 show are therefore also given wherever possible.
* See Kallir, Otto: “Richard Gerstl (1883-1908), Beiträge zur Dokumentation seines Lebens und Werkes” in Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Galerie, 18., Vienna, 1974:125-193 (Nachlassverzeichnis: 145-167).
** Nirenstein changed his name to Kallir in 1933
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CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF LINKS TO GERSTL’S KNOWN WORKS
Click on a link below to either view an individual painting in a separate window or to go to a specific period.
1902-1905: Zentzytzki ♦ ♦ Bäumer ♦ ♦ Frauenkopf ♦ ♦ Unger:I ♦ ♦ Unger:II ♦ ♦ Blue Self-portrait ♦ ♦ Kinderbild ♦ ♦ Selbstbildnis, lachend (Fragment) ♦ ♦ Schwestern Fey
1906-June 1907: Trude Geiringer ♦ ♦ Schönberg ♦ ♦ Mathilde und Gertrud ♦ ♦ Frau mit Federhut ♦ ♦ Grinzing ♦ ♦ Emil Gerstl ♦ ♦ Selbsbildnis mit Palette ♦ ♦ Diez ♦ ♦ Alois Gerstl ♦ ♦ Smaragda Berg ♦ ♦ Mutter und Tochter ♦ ♦ Selbsbildnis Drawing/1 ♦ ♦ Selbsbildnis Drawing/2 ♦ ♦ Selbsbildnis Drawing/3 ♦ ♦ Selbsbildnis Drawing/4 ♦ ♦ vor dem Ofen ♦ ♦ Selbstbildnis (Studie) ♦ ♦ Kleines Selbstbildnis ♦ ♦ Dame mit Federhut ♦ ♦ Kahlenberg ♦ ♦ Oberländer ♦ ♦ Herrenbildnis ♦ ♦ Kniestück ♦ ♦ Selbsbildnis Drawing/2
Gmunden 1907: Obstbaum mit Holzstützen ♦ ♦ Blumenwiese ♦ ♦ Gartenbild ♦ ♦ Baum im Garten ♦ ♦ Prillinger ♦ ♦ Uferpromenade ♦ ♦ Obstbaum ♦ ♦ Baumstudie ♦ ♦ Gartenzaun ♦ ♦ Mathilde Schönberg:II ♦ ♦ Traunseelandschaft ♦ ♦ Baum am Traunsee ♦ ♦ Schlafender Griechin ♦ ♦ Landschaftsstudie ♦ ♦ Selbstbildnis, lachend (1907)
Autumn 1907-Spring 1908: Self 15 September ♦ ♦ Self 29 September/1 ♦ ♦ Self 29 September/2 ♦ ♦ Liechtensteinpalais ♦ ♦ Donaukanal ♦ ♦ Nußdorf ♦ ♦ Sitzende Frau ♦ ♦ Sitzende Mann ♦ ♦ Mathilde im Atelier ♦ ♦ Halbfigurenportrait ♦ ♦ Henryka Cohn
Gmunden 1908-Suicide: Alban Berg? ♦ ♦ Traunseelandschaft 1908 ♦ ♦ Doppelbildnis ♦ ♦ Zemlinsky ♦ ♦ Mathilde im Garten ♦ ♦ Familie Schönberg ♦ ♦ Gruppenbildnis ♦ ♦ Akt im Freien ♦ ♦ Nußdorferstraße ♦ ♦ Zimmer ♦ ♦ Maria Gerstl ♦ ♦ Halbakt ♦ ♦ Selbstbildnis 12 September 1908 ♦ ♦ Frauenakt