© Hilde Goldschmidt estate

This bold portrait of Frau Trautl Schranz was probably executed in Hilde Goldschmidt’s Kitzbühel studio in 1951, where she returned after spending the war years in England. The style, however, draws on her early training at Dresden Academy of Art in the 1920s under Austria’s most famous Expressionist painter, Oskar Kokoschka, whose composition and sense of colour strongly influenced her style. The work was presented to the Ben Uri Collection by the artist's niece, ceramicist Brigitte Appleby, who formed the Briglin Pottery partnership with fellow potter Eileen Lewenstein.