Albin Egger-Lienz (1868-1926), ‘Haspinger’ Peasant Head, 1909 Oil on canvas Austria, 1909 Albin Egger-Lienz (1868-1926) – Austrian painter Signed and dated upper right ‘Egger-Lienz / 1909’; titled upper left ‘Studie zum Bilde “Haspinger” [study for the painting “Haspinger”]’ Overall dimensions, framed: 66.5 x 61 cm Very good condition Provenance: Private collection An expressive study for a major work by the artist; in comparable sizes Albin Egger-Lienz’s peasant portraits fetch up to 300,000 euros on the international art market Albin Egger-Lienz created this expressive portrait of a peasant in 1909 as a study for one of his masterpieces ‘Haspinger Anno Neun’. The work shows the head of a man in three-quarter profile. Face, clothes and hat are presented in earthy tones just like the background. Painted with simplified, broad brushstrokes the portrait nevertheless exhibits a haunting quality, showing a determined man – to the right of Haspinger in the large painting – armed with a club, ready to give his life for freedom. Egger Lienz’s Haspinger, today in the Schloss Bruck Museum in Lienz, shows the Capuchin priest and freedom fighter Joachim Haspinger (1776-1858) leading a group of peasants during the Tyrolean Rebellion of 1809. Leon Trotsky described the monumental painting, when he saw it in the Vienna Secession in 1909, as a ‘perfect mural’. Egger-Lienz is today considered a pioneer of modernism. He has broken away from the realistic history and genre painting and created paintings of imposing expressivity and a reduced formal language. There were many influences – Millet, van Gogh or Hodler – but Egger-Lienz developed his very own monumental style. His main works not only depict rural life but are portraits of the human condition, confessions of human fate between life and death, between struggle and sacrifice. The painting by Albin Egger-Lienz is in very good and original condition. The canvas was mounted on thick cardboard. There are only a few minor surface abrasions to the background. The frame shows minor chipping. Framed, the work measures 66.5 x 61 cm. The board measures 44.3 x 38.6 cm. The work is signed and dated upper right ‘Egger-Lienz / 1909’ and titled upper left ‘Studie zum Bilde “Haspinger” [study for the painting “Haspinger”]’. Albin Egger-Lienz (1868-1926) Albin Egger-Lienz was born in Lienz, Tyrol in 1868. He was first taught by his father, the church painter and photographer Georg Egger. He then attended the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied painting. During his studies, he already received various awards for his work. In 1899 Egger–Lienz moved to Vienna. He created his most famous works ‘Der Totentanz von Anno Neun’ and ‘Haspinger Anno Neun’ in 1908 and 1909 respectively. A central theme in the artist’s oeuvre was not only the bitter fate of the peasantry, but the human condition in general, suffering and death. In 1912 Egger-Lienz accepted a professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Weimar before working as a war artist during the First World War. In 1918 he moved to Southern Tyrol, where he spent his retirement years. Today Egger-Lienz’s works are found in Schloss Bruck in Lienz and the Tiroler Landesmuseum, the Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck, the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, the Leopold Museum as well as the Belvedere in in Vienna, where in spring 2014 a major retrospective entitled ‘Totentanz. Egger-Lienz und der Krieg’ is scheduled. Starting price: 10000