“Reclining Figure” (Selma Burke), charcoal drawing by Hans Böhler, Vienna 1935

“And at that time it was really something, because it was simply so rare to see a Black person in an everyday situation.” This is how the US sculptor Selma Burke (1900–1995) described the Austrian public’s reaction to her. Between 1935 and 1937, she spent several months of each year in Vienna studying at the Kunstgewerbeschule, a college of applied arts. This charcoal drawing shows the artist during this period as an independent and intellectual woman, as viewed from  loving perspective of her long-term partner Hans Böhler (1884–1961). The couple was part of an artistic circle centred around the Vienna Secession. Burke later reported that she would have been happy to remain in Austria. But she left Vienna in 1937 for the USA, fearing the growing influence of National Socialism.

Associated date: 1935

Place: Vienna, Austria

Height: 48 cm

Width: 63 cm

Materials: Charcoal on paper

Acquisition: Purchase