I Want to Warm You, But Winter Is Your Friend
- Date
- 1984
- Material
- Oil pastel and graphite on paper
- made in
- Dreisbach, Steiermark state, Austria, Europe
- Classification
- Drawings & watercolors
- Collection
- Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 15 5/8 x 12 5/8 in. (39.7 x 32.1 cm)
framed: 25 in. x 22 in. x 1 1/8 in. (63.5 x 55.9 x 2.9 cm) - Credit Line
- Partial and promised gift of Betsy Millard, the Earl and Betsy Millard Collection
- Rights
- © Gunter Brus
- Object Number
- 29:2003
NOTES
Described by the artist as a self-portrait, this drawing features a thin man, suspended in mid-air, touching the breast of a woman wearing a long white gown. According to the artist, "this drawing enters the psychological realm. I could have made the man larger, but decided to draw him small. The woman has rebuffed him, and this rejection has diminished him." The words inscribed in graphite along the bottom of the drawing translated as "I want to warm you, but winter is your friend," are a reference to the woman's cold indifference. Surprisingly, the woman featured in the drawing is not a depiction of someone Günther Brus knew, but is a reference to the women in long white gowns shown in 19th century portraits by James McNeill Whistler, Edvard Munch, and Gustav Klimt.
Provenance
- 1986
Galerie Heike Curtze, Vienna, Austria, acquired from the artist
1986 -
Earl Millard (d.1996) and Betsy Millard, St. Louis, MO, USA, purchased from Galerie Heike Curtze [1]
2003 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, partial and promised gift of Betsy Millard [2]
Note:
The primary source of provenance is Betsy Millard [information for appraisals form, SLAM document files]. Other supporting documents are noted.
[1] In a Bill of Sale dated June 24, 1986 addressed to Earl Millard from James Ropiequet Schmidt, St. Louis, MO, the drawing is listed as having been sold by Galerie Heike Curtze at Art Expo 1986, an art fair in New York City. The document suggests that James Schmidt served as a broker for the transaction [SLAM document files].
[2] The terms of this partial and promised gift are detailed in the contract between Betsy Millard and the Saint Louis Art Museum [Gift and Loan Agreement between Betsy Millard and SLAM, signed (no day or month) 2003, SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, June 3, 2003.
Galerie Heike Curtze, Vienna, Austria, acquired from the artist
1986 -
Earl Millard (d.1996) and Betsy Millard, St. Louis, MO, USA, purchased from Galerie Heike Curtze [1]
2003 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, partial and promised gift of Betsy Millard [2]
Note:
The primary source of provenance is Betsy Millard [information for appraisals form, SLAM document files]. Other supporting documents are noted.
[1] In a Bill of Sale dated June 24, 1986 addressed to Earl Millard from James Ropiequet Schmidt, St. Louis, MO, the drawing is listed as having been sold by Galerie Heike Curtze at Art Expo 1986, an art fair in New York City. The document suggests that James Schmidt served as a broker for the transaction [SLAM document files].
[2] The terms of this partial and promised gift are detailed in the contract between Betsy Millard and the Saint Louis Art Museum [Gift and Loan Agreement between Betsy Millard and SLAM, signed (no day or month) 2003, SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, June 3, 2003.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.