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Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
GERDA WEGENER (1886-1940) Musical harem.
Illustration of a quintet of female musicians in an Indian palace, from an unknown publication. Pen and ink on paper. 90x160 mm; 3 1/2x6 1/4 inches. Signed "Gerda Wegener" in lower right margin. Circa 1920. The Danish illustrator and painter Gerda Wegener moved to Paris in 1912 and quickly became known for the superb artistry of her fashion and lifestyle illustrations and advertisements (see lots 19 and 20) in Vogue, La Vie Parisienne, Fantasion, La Guirlande, and many other Parisian magazines. Her style was marked by a playful sensuality though her book illustrations and fine art displayed more highly erotic, mainly Sapphic themes. Her personal life received scrutiny when her spouse and muse, Lili Elbe, also a painter, who went by the name Einer Wegener, became the first woman to undero gender confirmation surgery and became a critical figure in the LGBTQ community. Elbe stopped painting shortly thereafter and eventually died of complications after a fourth surgery. In 2000, a novel based loosely on their lives was published and turned into a feature -length film, The Danish Girl in 2015. Wegener's work remains among the best of the Art Deco period, especially in light of her sucess as a female artist amid her more famous male contemporaries such as Barbier, Brunelleschi, Lepape, and Martin.
