The Getty buys a self-portrait by Elena Luksch-Makowsky

27/3/24 - Acquisition - Los Angeles, Getty Museum - Elena Makowsky-Luksch’s fear of abandoning her art to take on the role of wife and mother can be seen in her work throughout her career. After much hesitation, she finally married the Viennese sculptor Richard Luksch in 1900, but demanded a written promise from him: that once married, they would both continue to work as artists on an equal footing, and that she would travel to Russia to see her family whenever she wished.

1. Elena Luksch-Makowsky (1878-1967)
Pregnant Self-Portrait, 1901
Gouache and pencil - 54.5 x 35.1 cm
Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum
Photo : Comnaghi Elliott Fine Art Master Drawings

See the image in its page

In 1901, she pictured herself pregnant with her first child. This self-portrait was purchased by the Getty Museum from Colnaghi Elliott Master Drawings (ill. 1) . Elena Makowsky-Luksch is standing in profile in a loose-fitting dress that hints at her pregnancy. She stares at the viewer - or at her reflection in the mirror? - with a look of defiance, her sketchbook in her hand, but her back turned to a large canvas that stands out from the frame. She also created a ceramic self-portrait, directly related to this painting, in which she adopts the same posture and clothes, but eliminates the sketchbook (ill. 2). In 1902, she painted herself with her newborn baby. She appears veiled, in the shadows in the background, and holds up her half-naked son Peter (ill. 3). The theme is obviously reminiscent of that of the Virgin and Child, but the title of the work, Ver Sacrum, refers to a Latin expression found in Titus Livius, meaning "sacred spring"; it refers to an ancient rite of the Italic peoples who, to ward off calamity and appease the gods, consecrated to them children born in spring. Ver Sacrum is also the title - taken from a poem by Ludwig Uhland - of the Viennese Secession magazine published between 1898 and 1903, to which Elena Makowsky-Luksch contributed.…