Egon Schiele

Marlborough Fine Art, London
Simon Sainsbury, London
James Kirkman, London
Private Collection (sold: Sotheby's, London, March 26, 1980, lot 197)
Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)

London, Marlborough Fine Art, Egon Schiele, Drawings and Watercolors: 1909-1918, 1969, no. 6, illustrated in the catalogue (titled Man Lying Face Down and as dating from circa 1911)
London, Fischer Fine Art, Egon Schiele: Oils, Watercolors, Drawings and Graphic Work, 1972, no. 32

Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works, New York, 1990, no. 594, illustrated p. 415
Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works. Expanded Edition, New York, 1998, no. 594, illustrated p. 415

The sheet is affixed at the top corners to the mat. There is some uneven discoloring of the sheet in the background to the left of the figure and between the figure's legs. There are a few, small repaired tears along the lower edge of the sheet, and one tiny repaired tear along the upper edge at the right. The two top corners are slightly creased. This work is in good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Schiele executed a number of drawings and watercolors of the male body in 1910, and the best of these works epitomize his highly individual, newly developed Expressionist style.  As an adolescent with characteristically narcissistic preoccupations, his studies of male torsos, arms and legs often resemble his own body and were usually self-portraits.  Many of these pictures portray the body not as a representation of self, but rather as a physiological landscape.  Bordering on the abstract, these pictures pay particular attention to the contours, folds and ridges of the flesh and skeletal structure rather than on the individualistic features of the figure's face.  For the present work, Schiele must have been lying on the floor and looking at himself from behind with the aid of mirrors in his studio.  Because he had no compunction about depicting himself in unusual poses or contorting his body into uncomfortable positions, these self-portraits are some of his most exploitative representations of the human body at its most expressive.

Writing about Schiele's depictions of the male nude, Simon Wilson has observed:  "Schiele's mature art presents us with an image of man, free-floating, seen  from strange and unusual angles and in strange and unusual postures, that is quite new in the long history of the human image in Western art.  He developed in other works a completely fresh view of man in art – an extraordinary achievement.  But that is not all: Schiele's image of man is of an unprecedented and remarkable completeness.  He depicts [men] as the sexual being [they] are in a way no other great artist had ever done before, and at the same time gives full and equal value to the metaphysical and the psychological" (S. Wilson, Egon Schiele, Ithaca, 1980, p. 18).