Provenance:

David Davis, Los Angeles, California. 

Toni Lynn Russo, Los Angeles, California; her estate until 2024.

Exhibited:

Münchener Glaspalast Jahres Ausstellung, 1902, no. 1071.[i]

August Rieper’s Medusa offers a compelling reimagining of one of Greek mythology’s most iconic figures. Far from the traditional depiction of the monster whose gaze petrifies all who dare look upon her, the artist has transformed the figure of Medusa into an enigmatic femme fatale. The subject of Medusa captivated German Symbolist artists and their audience as much as it did those of antiquity and the Renaissance. Alongside the artists Franz von Stuck and Arnold Böcklin, August Rieper was spellbound by the subject of Medusa and painted her on multiple occasions. In our painting, Medusa’s disembodied head, serpentine hair, and luminous eyes reflect the characteristic iconography of the mythological figure, but her averted gaze, ecstatic smile, and decidedly un-classical features inevitably evoke a more modern woman.

According to the Greek myth, the Gorgon Medusa was a woman with snakes for hair whose appearance would turn anyone who looked at her to stone. She was slain by the hero Perseus, who held her head aloft to defeat his enemies by petrifying them. Most painted and sculpted depictions of Medusa focus on her severed head, confronting the viewer with her lethal stare and with a frontal view of a figure that is at once both dead and alive. Here, significantly Medusa is turned away from us, allowing the viewer to observe her without any consequences. Only the iridescent green serpents that surround her head, writhing with palpable energy, acknowledge our presence. One snake even bares its fangs at us. Medusa’s enigmatic smile adds to the complexity of the image—perhaps she smiles knowing that we would turn to stone if she were to return our gaze.

Born in Hamburg in 1865, Rieper studied briefly at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts before devoting himself to studying the Old Masters. His early exhibitions earned him the admiration of prominent Munich artists, including Friedrich von Kaulbach, Franz von Lenbach, and Franz von Stuck. Stuck became a close friend and important influence on the artist, and they both shared an affinity for mythological subjects. And like Stuck Rieper designed his own frames, conceiving both frame and canvas as an integral composition. While Rieper is mostly known for his portraits, interiors, genre scenes, and still lifes, his depictions of Medusa represent a high point of his artistic output. In the 19th century Medusa was seen as a figure both enchanting and dangerous, and she was emblematic of the Symbolist movement’s fascination with the dualities of human nature. Rieper’s Medusa perfectly embodies this duality, as her monstrosity gives way to a more humanized and resonant interpretation of the subject: the painting invites the viewer to confront and contemplate Medusa as a symbol of both menace and allure.

[i] A label on the reverse of the frame in the artist’s hand records his address and possibly its inclusion in an exhibition as no. 372.