05/12/2026
Die Verlassene (“The Forsaken”)
By Gustav Gurschner (bronze base) Loetz (glass shade)
France
c. 1905
The composition of this incredible lighted sculpture is structured vertically, as an intertwined n**e couple climbs upward along a trailing length of drapery.
At the summit, the woman cradles the glass globe—the lamp’s light source.
The amber Loetz glass shade, flecked with pale orange spotting and threaded with delicate applied streamers, enhances this atmospheric effect.
The design likely draws on imagery from Gustav Klimt, particularly Fish Blood (1897) and Medicine (1901). In Fish Blood, n**e figures are borne along a current-like flow, their bodies integrated into a larger, communal movement of nature.
Similarly, in this lamp, the ascent of the figures—culminating in the glowing globe—suggests a metaphysical journey into the unknown. As a table lamp, it enacts this symbolism through light itself.
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