Arnulf Rainer, Oil On Photographic Print On Photographic Paper, Signed, 1900s Era

Arnulf Rainer, oil on photographic print on photographic paper, signed, 1900s era

This work by Arnulf Rainer, made in mixed media (oil on photographic print on photographic paper), measures 48.3 x 61.3 cm and is signed in pencil at lower right. The back is stamped “Photo: Peter Kubelka,” indicating that the photographic base on which Rainer intervened was taken by Austrian filmmaker and photographer Peter Kubelka.

Description and Analysis
The work is a significant example of the Übermalungen (overpaintings), Rainer's distinctive technique in which the painter intervenes on photographs with expressive and gestural brushstrokes, often violent, using intense and contrasting colors such as red, black, yellow, and blue. In this case, the original image shows a human face in a dramatic pose, partially obscured and transformed by the painterly intervention.

The black, red, and yellow brushstrokes almost seem to imprison or distort the figure, emphasizing its expression of pain or despair. This process of covering and revealing is central to Rainer's work: his intervention does not destroy the underlying image but transforms it into an intense emotional experience, charged with psychological tension.

The work's purchase at Galerie Ariadne in Vienna in 1973 and its subsequent ownership in a private collection in Como add historical and collector value to the piece.