Oil painting Secessionist Portrait of a Lady Anton Nowak ca. 1901

Anton Nowak depicts a young woman dressed in a luminous yellow gown richly adorned with coloured gemstones, leaving her breasts exposed. In both hands, she holds the heavy folds of a deep green fabric. The intense palette of yellow, green and jewel-like accents sets the life-size figure in striking relief against a dark, freely painted background.

Yet it is above all the sitter’s bearing that makes this painting so remarkable. Standing upright before the viewer, she appears self-assured and entirely unconstrained. Her gaze is proud and detached, almost indifferent. Nothing in her demeanour seems intended to solicit approval. It is precisely this quality that lends the painting its astonishing modernity.

The date of its creation must be borne in mind: 1901. Here, the unclothed female body is presented without any suggestion of modesty, coquettishness or classical idealisation, but rather with an almost demonstrative matter-of-factness. The result is provocative and avant-garde, while remaining strikingly contemporary even today.

The work is equally remarkable in its painterly execution. Nowak employs a free and animated brushwork, demonstrating considerable assurance in the modelling of flesh, fabric and jewellery. Particularly striking is the interplay between the almost incandescent yellow of the gown, the rich emerald green of the drapery and the subdued, atmospheric background. The precious details of the garment are not rendered in meticulous detail, but brought to life through swift, precise touches of colour that make them sparkle.

The result is a painting of exceptional physical and psychological presence: monumental and decorative, sensual yet coolly detached – and remarkably modern in its attitude towards the traditional image of women in its time.