Egon Schiele

Estate of the artist
Serge Sabarsky, New York
Acquired from the estate of the above by the present owner

London, Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., Egon Schiele: Paintings, Watercolours and Drawings, 1964, no. 34, illustrated in the catalogue
Vienna, Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien; Linz, Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz; Munich, Museum Villa Stuck and Hanover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Egon Schiele: Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, 1981, no. 13, illustrated in the catalogue
Paris, Hôtel de Ville, Salle Saint-Jean; Kaiserslautern, Pfalzgalerie; Bolzano, Museo Civico and Turin, Palazzo Reale, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele: Dessins et aquarelles, 1984-85, no. 63, illustrated in the catalogue
New York, Serge Sabarsky Gallery, Schiele, 1986, no. 12
Vienna, Bawag Foundation (and travelling in Austria, Germany, Italy and France), Egon Schiele: 100 Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, 1988-93, no. 31, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Martigny, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Schiele, 1995, no. 55, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Simon Wilson, Egon Schiele, Ithaca, 1980, pl. 35,  illustrated
Serge Sabarsky, Egon Schiele, Disegni Erotici, Milan, 1981, pl. 2, illustrated
Serge Sabarsky, Egon Schiele: Watercolors and Drawings, New York, 1983, pl. 2, illustrated
Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works, New York, 1998, p. 408, no. 527, illustrated

Sitzender Akt mit lila Strümpfen is a stunning example of Schiele's early female nudes, and of the artist's obsession with the allure and eroticism of the female body. With her brow coyly arched and one eye peering over her arm, the red-headed model is acutely aware that she is being watched. She stretches her forearm taut in front of her eyes and nose and slightly lowers her head, shielding most of her face. Her violet stockings, which, at first consideration, dominate the foreground of the composition, provide a seductive contrast to the explicit nakedness of the rest of the woman's body. 

Overwhelmingly erotic, this pose must have captivated Schiele when he rendered it at the age of 20. At this point in his life, highly sexualised images of women were common in his repertoire, and they are depicted in a highly impersonal manner, their facial features often blurred or hidden. Unlike his more mature works, in which the artist was to concentrate increasingly on the psychology of his sitters, in his works of 1910, his concern was primarily with the form of the human body and its erotic potential, which he so obsessively explored.