Gustav Klimt Zip Pouch – Met Museum – Portrait of Mäda Primavesi (1912-13)

About Gustav Klimt Zip Pouch – Met Museum – Portrait of Mäda Primavesi (1912-13)

This handy and colorful transfer-printed Gustav Klimt Zip Pouch by the Met Museum celebrates a beloved work by the Vienna Secessionist artist “Portrait of Mäda Primavesi” (1912-13) part of the Met Museum’s collection. This 1912–13 canvas by Gustav Klimt (Austrian, 1862–1918) attests to the sophisticated taste of the banker and industrialist Otto Primavesi and his wife Eugenia, both ardent supporters of progressive Viennese art and design who commissioned Klimt to paint their daughter, Mäda. Mäda Primavesi’s expression and posture convey a remarkable degree of confidence for a nine-year-old girl, even one who was, by her own account, willful and a tomboy. Klimt made numerous preliminary sketches for this portrait, experimenting with different poses, outfits, and backgrounds before deciding to show Mäda standing tall in a specially-made dress amid a profusion of springlike patterns. The picture testifies to the sophisticated taste of her parents, who were ardent supporters of progressive Viennese art and design. In fact, Klimt soon painted Eugenia’s portrait (Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Japan).