Lesbia contra Motor

Künstler*in Curt Stenvert (1920 Wien – 1992 Köln)

Object typePainting
MediumOil and gold leaf on wood
Dimensions
140 × 120 cm
SignatureSign. und dat. rechts unten: Ste 1947
Inventory numberLg 582
Locations Belvedere, Upper Belvedere, 2. Floor (east), Room NO2
Credit Line1973 Artothek des Bundes, Dauerleihgabe im Belvedere, Wien
Curt Stenvert ranks among the most important artists of the Viennese postwar avant-garde. The study of movement is a central trait of his oeuvre, leading him to branch out into photography and eventually into film. Created shortly after the war, the painting “Lesbia contra Motor” signals the dawn of a fresh start in art. In dismantling the human body into formal elements, Stenvert harks back to Cubism. The motif of the motor and its dynamic energy, meanwhile, quotes the Futurists. The result is an abstract dramatization of sexuality: a pair of women set before a red-and-black checkered backdrop is confronted by the male in the guise of an engine.

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