Josef Schulz, Portrait Of A Young Woman, Orientalist Evocation, Austria, 1955

JOSEF SCHULZ
Salzburg, 1893 - 1973 Salzburg

Portrait of a Young Woman with a Scarf, 1955

Black ink on paper

Signed and dated "55" lower right; autograph inscription on reverse: "Zur Erinnerung an den Osterspaziergang 1955. In Freundschaft J. Schulz"
46 × 33 cm / 18.1 × 13 inches

PROVENANCE: Private collection, Austria

Austrian painter Josef Schulz, primarily associated with the artistic milieu of Salzburg, created in 1955 this expressive image of a young woman, executed in black ink on paper with an almost calligraphic freedom of gesture.

The work conveys an unexpectedly modern sensibility. The economy of means, the bold simplification of form, and the open gaze of the sitter place this portrait within the aesthetic of the European mid-century, where the human figure often became a symbol of regained inner freedom and a renewed sense of optimism following the upheavals of war.

The face of the young woman, perhaps evoking certain Oriental or Southeast Asian features, remains deliberately ambiguous, suspended somewhere between observation and imagination. Her particularly expressive gaze — calm, confident, and directed toward the future — seems to embody the spirit of an era marked by hope and renewal.

On the reverse appears an autograph inscription: “Zur Erinnerung an den Osterspaziergang 1955. In Freundschaft J. Schulz” (“In memory of the Easter walk of 1955. In friendship, J. Schulz”), lending the work the intimate character of a personal keepsake or a gifted remembrance.