Alma Schindler
(1879-1964) was stunning, no doubt about it. She even was called the "most beautiful girl in Wienna". Being such a great beauty she was adored by many men throughout her life. Strangely enough, she, the confirmed anti-semite, who was impressed by Hitler and "his beautiful eyes", had a habit of falling in love with Jews.
Alma, 19 years old
Not only was she beautiful, but she also was talented and made a certain impact in the world of art, music and literature with works of her own.
Her father was a renown landscape painter, Emil Jakob Schindler, and her mother, Anna Sofie, was an opera singer for a few years. When her father died in 1892 her Mom married the painter Carl Moll which means that Alma grew up in an artistic social setting, thus being able to seep in art at an early age. She herself started out as a composer at the young age of 9.
Alma in her early 20ies
When she was 22 years old she met the 19 years older Jewish opera curator, composer and conductor Gustav Mahler (1860–1911), who fell madly in love with her. Before their wedding, Mahler had her sign some sort of contract that she was to stop composing and devote herself to his art as a (great: Yup, he was great!) composer. At that time she had made c. 100 compositions of her own, but nonetheless she accepted his somewhat weird demand.
Gustav Mahler
They had two daughters, but the first one died in infancy. However, the second one, Anna Justine, grew up and became a renown sculptor. True to her anti-semitic feelings her Mom seems to often have called her some derogatory names like e.g. "crossbreed" or "mongrel" because she, having a Jewish father, was a semi-Jew.
Alma and Gustav Mahler
Well, the marriage of Alma and Gustav did meet with several problems, one of them being her way of flirting with her numerous admirers and lovers. One of these was the architect Walter Gropius whom she married in 1915, four years after Mahler died in 1911. Before their wedding, this new husband had denounced her when he learned that she had had sex with her then husband, Mahler, after their - in his eyes - romantic love affair had started. Something like that was against his notions of true love, and it's obvious that Alma must have been much more down to earth than he was, especially when it comes to sex.
Oskar Kokoschka
Another man whom she made an ever-lasting impression on was the painter Oskar
Kokoschka. He was so besotted that when their love affair ended in 1914 he had an "Alma-doll" made, presumably as a substitute for her as a sexual partner. Now, more than 100 years later, there are sex-dolls of all kinds, also over celebrities, for those who want that, but I doubt there were many back then. However, his commission to make this specific doll was so very descriptive that one may suspect that the woman who was to make it, Hermione Moos, was offended by his detailed and very explicit demands. Anyway, the doll she made most certainly wasn't her best and most impressive work, as it looks rather "clumsy" and not at all mirrors the beautiful Alma.
The Alma-Doll, sitting position
Kokoschka obviously had very set ideas of what he wanted: "Yesterday I sent a life-size drawing of my beloved and I ask you to copy
this most carefully and to transform it into reality. Pay special
attention to the dimensions of the head and neck, to the ribcage, the
rump and the limbs. And take to heart the contours of body, e.g., the
line of the neck to the back, the curve of the belly. Please permit my
sense of touch to take pleasure in those places where layers of fat or
muscle suddenly give way to a sinewy covering of skin. For the first
layer (inside) please use fine, curly horsehair; you must buy an old
sofa or something similar; have the horsehair disinfected. Then, over
that, a layer of pouches stuffed with down, cottonwool for the seat and
breasts. The point of all this for me is an experience which I must be
able to embrace!"
The Alma-doll in a reclining position
It's my opinion that the besotted Kokoschka went too far in a weird sexual exploitation of the woman who had left him to marry her former, but for some time, estranged lover, Walter Gropius. In this marriage she had her third daughter, called Manon (1916-1935). Something which didn't stop her having many love affairs, and in 1920 she left Gropius for the author Franz Werfel (1890-1945), whom she married nine years later.
Franz Werfel- crazy about Alma!!!
Both Gustav Mahler and many other famous musicians have dedicated their works to Alma. Her personality, charisma and beauty as well as her many love affairs also had a special impact on a modern musician, namely Tom Lehrer. He, who was a more or less venomous singer and entertainer, did his best to give his salty opinion on her sex life: https://youtu.be/QL6KgbrGSKQ?feature=shared
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/02/17/my-fair-lady/
https://www.berlingske.dk/kultur/antisemitten-der-elskede-joeder
Wikipedia