Egon Schiele

Fritz Lang, Berlin

Sale: Sotheby's, London, December 5, 1985, lot 550

Acquired at the above sale by A. Alfred Taubman

Munich, Secession, December 1913, no. 817

Zurich, L'Art Ancien, Aquarelle und Zeichnungen neuerer Meister, 1965, no. 27, illustrated in the catalogue

Zurich, Kunsthaus, 50 Jahre Kunsthandelsverband der Schweiz, 1973, no. 270

New York, Gagosian Gallery, Nudes: Egon Schiele, 1994, no. 20, illustrated in color the catalogue

Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works, New York, 1990, no. D.1352, illustrated p. 505

Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works, New York, 1998, no. D.1352, illustrated p. 505

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Once owned by the great German-Austrian filmaker Fritz Lang, Freundin, Rosa-Blau is an exceptional example of Egon Schiele’s figure works from 1913. In early 1911, Schiele often outlined his figures with gouache for added emphasis, a stylistic continuation from his works of 1910. Towards the end of 1911, he moved away from the gouache outlines, allowing his figures to exist in an undefined space. Jane Kallir addresses this separation: “Schiele refused to fix his nudes in a clearly defined space. He adopted the practice of drawing models from above, perched on a high stool or ladder. By eliminating all traces of a three-dimensional background setting in the resultant compositions, and signing drawings of recumbent figures as verticals, he created a profound sense of spatial dislocation” (J. Kallir, Egon Schiele Drawings & Watercolors, New York, 2003, pp. 140-141).

Freundin, Rosa-Blau depicts two female nudes, delineated by strong lines of pencil and highlights of watercolor. Their tousled hair, red lips and drapery are emphasized in gouache. Kallir speaks to Schiele’s development throughout 1912: “Over the course of 1912, however, Schiele’s approach gradually toughened. Softer leads yielded darker, more substantial lines, and his forms became more angular. He mixed less water with his watercolors, or combined watercolor with denser gouache. This allowed him once again to stress contract between thickly brushed areas, such as hair or clothes, and wash-tinted flesh” (ibid, pp. 191-192).

Following his brief spell of imprisonment in 1912 for the alleged dissemination of indecent drawings, Schiele reduced some of the sexual explicitness typical of his earlier work. At this time he also became increasingly interested in depicting his sitters in a more sculptural way and his preoccupation with three-dimensional form is particularly evident in Freundin, Rosa-Blau. Discussing Schiele’s development at this time, Kallir commented: "This year [1913] produces one of the most profound changes of the artist’s career: the switch from two-dimensional to three-dimensional orientation, which will shape his drawing style for good. In keeping with the Jugendstil conditioning, Schiele prior to 1913 had been in thrall to the flatness of the picture plane, the negative spaces, and to the tactile qualities of pigment for pigment’s sake. Realistic verisimilitude was formerly of secondary importance only. Now this begins to change.  The broad, flowing lines and soft pencil leads of late 1912 continue into early 1913, as do late-1912 coloring techniques: flesh areas are dabbed with watercolor wash, drapery is edged with paint, and thicker gouache accents are applied to isolated areas such as stockings or hair. As in 1912, one finds an interest in oblique views from above, but whereas previously such poses were interpreted two-dimensionally, the models are now presented in an approximation of realistic space" (J. Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works, New York, 1990, p. 490).

In the present work Schiele uses bright red, green and blue taches of watercolor, rendered rigorously and economically, to define the contours of the bodies. The intricate web of geometrically opposing lines, rendered with boldly executed pencil strokes, enhances the vitality of the composition whilst containing its forms. Unlike some of his more provocative and explicit works depicting coupled women, it is the hint of physical contact, the gentle embrace, that lends this work much of its mystery and power.

Freundin, Rosa-Blau has important early provenance. The first owner of the present work was Fritz Lang, the renown German-Austrian filmmaker. Born in Vienna in 1890, Lang idolized the work of his Austrian contemporaries Gustav Klimt and Egon Scheile and assembled a valuable collection of the latter's drawings.