Woman in Armchair (Frau im Sessel)
Paul Kleinschmidt
German, 1883–1949
1922
A 1922 drypoint by Paul Kleinschmidt showing a seated woman in a corset, the artist using bold, incisive lines to convey her physical presence and character.
The image hits you with raw, choppy black strokes that both model and flatten the figure—broad, slightly caricatured features, exposed breasts within a tight corset, and dense hatchwork that makes the print feel immediate and tactile.
The work exemplifies interwar German printmaking’s turn to frank, unsentimental portraiture, demonstrating how drypoint’s scratchy marks could register bodily weight and psychological presence.
Medium
Drypoint
Dimensions
plate: 10 7/8 x 9 5/16" (27.7 x 23.6cm); sheet: 15 3/16 x 12 5/16" (38.5 x 31.3 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Richard A. Cohn
Accession
118.1970
Palette
Exhibitions
![Woman on a Sofa (Fridel Battenberg) (Frau auf dem Sofa [Fridel Battenberg])](https://www.moma.org/media/W1siZiIsIjExMjkyMCJdLFsicCIsImNvbnZlcnQiLCItcmVzaXplIDEwMjR4MTAyNFx1MDAzZSJdXQ.jpg?sha=e4af5c02d74bafc6)
