Judith I (1901)
Gustav Klimt ( Austrian,1862-1918) - Symbolism
Location: Österreichische Galerie Belvedere ,Vienna , Austria
”…At the time of its creation, Klimt’s painting Judith I, 1901 (on the left), was considered the incarnation of the femme fatale. In the Old Testament, Judith is a devout widow who captivated with her beauty the attention of the Assyrian leader who was a deadly menace to her people. At the meal in her honor he drank so much wine that he fell asleep before he could touch her. In his sleep, Judith killed him with his own sword, escaped with the help of a maid and helped the Israelites defeat the Assyrians who were now without a leader. In the Christian tradition, Judith was the allegory of the victory of chastity over vice and of humility over arrogance. At the beginning of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, she became the symbol of freedom, justice and just beliefs. In 1840, German poet Friedrich Hebbel reinterpreted the myth: Judith was still a widow, but a virgin because her husband had been impotent. Sexually frustrated, she was attracted by the Assyrian Holofernes and killed him as a personal vengence. In Sigmund Freud’s interpretation of 1917, Judith agreed with Hebbel: Judith killed the Assyrian because he had taken her virginity. Cutting of his head was, according to Freud, a symbol for Holofernes’ castration. According to Daniela Hammer - the information on Judith comes from her catalogue essay - Klimt’s portrait falls in the same category: She is a strong and independent woman who challenges male dominance, the femme fatale symbolizes an eternal truth. Despite the fact that Klimt wrote “Judith und Holofernes” on the portrait’s frame, in 1905, at a Berlin exhibition, the painting was considered to represent Salome. To mix up such contrary figures like Judith and Salome has a long tradition in art history which dates back to the 16th century. Salome was responsible for the killing of St. John the Baptist. For the artists of the turn of the century, Salome and not Judith was the incarnation of the femme fatale. Gustave Moreau’s painting inspired Oscar Wilde to his dramatic ballad of 1893. Judith’s “subversive ambivalence” of the Renaissance in Klimt’s painting largely gave way to a sensual and erotic optic: Judith is an icon of femininity. Whatever interpretation you prefer, one fact remains: Judith I of 1901 is not only one of Gustav Klimt’s best paintings, it is one of the outstanding female portraits in art history…” http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/cosmo11/
