Egon Schiele

Piccadilly Gallery, London
Sale: Christie’s, London, 28th November 1989, lot 147
Sale: Villa Grisebach, Berlin, 27th May 1994, lot 27
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele, The Complete Works, New York, 1990, no. 2059, illustrated p. 588

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, t-hinged to the mount in two places along the upper edge and floating in the mount. All four edges have been reinforced with tape on the verso. There are some minor scattered repaired tears along the lower edge (the longest of which is approximately 6mm long) and a repaired tear to the centre of the upper edge (approximately 5mm long). There is some faint mount staining along the right edge from previous framing and a small area of discolouration to the left part of the lower edge. The sheet is slightly time-stained. This work is in overall good condition.
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Egon Schiele’s Akt (Nude), executed in 1917, is a prime example of the artist’s late work. In 1917 Schiele returned to Vienna, following his military service during the First World War, and was able to focus on his artistic career. He devoted much of his time to drawing nudes, his ever improving financial situation allowing him increasingly to work with professional models.

These changing circumstances correspond to a marked development in the artist’s style and the present work is a clear departure from the artist’s early nudes. Schiele no longer crops the figure radically nor does the drawing carry any overtly erotic connotations. Rather, Schiele portrays the body intact displaying a tendency towards ever greater realism, which is in line with his drawings and watercolours post-1914. Most of his effort is now directed towards capturing the plasticity of the human form, the density of the human flesh and the solidity of muscle. To this end he employs black crayon, which produces a denser and more tangible contour. Schiele sets the figure on the page with unflinching confidence, allowing her to be without support or visible context – a stylistic practice that has become synonymous with Schiele’s entire œuvre.

Schiele’s technical virtuosity, highly original vision and fearless depictions of the naked figure distinguish his nudes as being among his most significant contributions to the development of modern art. His work reflected the maturity of an artist in full command of his talents. Schiele’s drawings of the body have become signifiers of his life and work. More than a century has passed since the Austrian enfant terrible Egon Schiele began the drawings and paintings for which he would become famous – yet not one has lost any of its devilish power to provoke, disturb, or shock.