Egon Schiele

Galerie Würthle, Vienna
Otto Brill, Vienna (acquired in the 1920s)
Thence by descent to the present owner in 1944

Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works, New York, 1990, no. 727, recto illustrated p. 534

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down and hinged to the mount in two places along the verso of the upper edge. The upper, lower and right edges are slightly unevenly cut, and there are artist's pinholes to both upper corners and the centre of the upper edge. There are two flattened vertical creases towards the centre of the lower edge and scattered further finer flattened creases. There is a small tear to the sheet towards the lower left corner (approx. 3mm. wide). The sheet is time-stained and slightly undulating and there are small remnants of a previous mount visible in each of the corners. This work is in overall 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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Twenty-eight years younger than fellow Austrian Gustav Klimt, Schiele rejected the decorative aesthetic of fin de siècle Art Nouveau and Viennese Secessionism. After leaving the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in 1909, he began to develop his own highly individual style. Executed in 1910, Bäuerinnen (Seated Peasant Woman) marks the time when Schiele created his first ground-breaking Expressionist works with a painstaking attention to line and detail. He was scarcely twenty years old when he achieved artistic maturity and the present work is one of a few known works executed in 1910 on the theme of peasant women depicted with their traditional dress. Through this charcoal drawing, Schiele's complete mastery and attention to drapery and volume comes to life, the minute lines of the lady's dress piercing through the sheet. On the reverse of the present work there is a drawing of a townscape, possibly evoking many of the desolate views he was executing in oil and gouache in the town of Krumau. A central black chimney signals the emergence of industrialisation devoid of human presence. The town of Krumau and its inhabitants was to become a central place for the development of Schiele's art until August 1911 and the 'perfect landscape surrogate for Schiele's emotional quandary' (Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works, New York, 1990, p.99).