Lovers (Valentine's Day card)

I don’t always remember to make a Valentine’s Day card for my wife, but we’ve been sorting through drawers and stuff, so we’ve recently come across some of the cards I made years and years ago. I’d got a little notice this year, so I thought I’d sneak a printed card in. I’ve got a long list I keep with ideas for prints and I’d written “Lovers/Liebespaar” on it at some point, so that was the subject matter taken care of.

I’ve stolen the composition from Klimt. It would have taken me too long to work up my own composition, so with a bit of judicious cropping and tweaking, this got close to what I had in mind.

The Klimt original is one of his preparatory drawings for his Beethoven Frieze in the Secession building (Strobl 3464). The drawing shows the couple lying down and having sex, but I loved her hands so much I had to use it. Hands were a central element for me, as I’ve been using them so much this past year, Also I saw a short film a few days ago – it’s called Egon - a modern dance interpretation of the untimely death of Klimt’s protegee Egon Schiele. There’s a really funny bit in it about Schiele’s tendency to strike a pose with his hands. Anyway, I’ve put a link to the film here (as you might suspect with Schiele, there’s lots of nudity).