Little Girl Dangling Her Legs, Paris 1936 Antique Pastel by Austrian Woman Artist Charlotte Walther Wipplinger

A rare and delightful work dating from 1936 by the Austrian woman artist Charlotte Walther, painted by her when she was a 25 year old up-and-coming painter in Paris.

Charlotte Walther was born in Kiel on the Baltic sea coast in 1911. A highly gifted child, she did her first drawings at the age of two, and was encouraged by her parents ... until the moment came when she wanted to make a career of it! We tend to forget these days that being a professional artist was not consider an acceptable life choice for a woman: but Charlotte persevered. She studied from 1931 at the Hamburg Academy Fine Arts, then also at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, and in Paris, with Charles Blanc.

He first solo exhibition took place in 1933 at the Parisian Galerie Vignon. In 1935, the avant garde German art dealer Peter Luders exhibited her work alongside German Expressionist superstars such as Ernst Berlach and Otto Dix. Her work was highly praised by critics even if, in those early years of fascist Germany, some of her works were already considered "degenerate".

Paris had a lasting influence on Charlotte's life and career. It is where she became a subtle, fine and delicate colourist, and where she met her future husband, Viennese Evert Wipplinger. The two returned to live in Austria in 1938. The war years were not kind on the couple, and it is only in the late 1940s that Charlotte would start exhibiting again in Vienna, at the Galerie Würthle, at the Vienna Secession in 1950 at the Wiener Werkstätten in 1952.

The pastel on offer here is is however a rare prewar work, painted in Paris. It is signed and dated 1936. It depicts a small child, seated, legs dangling. A perfect, sensitive depiction of childlike innocence, masterly juxtaposing elegant lines and flat fields of colour. Measuring 30 x 24 cm, the overall framed size is 36 x 44 cm (please forgive the my reflection in the glass!).

Nous parlons français, und wir sprechen auch Deutsch! Paintings may be viewed in Norwich and in Paris, as well as in London and Cambridge by appointment. Please contact us if you would like further details and images of an artwork.