Egon Schiele

Otto & Eva Benesch, Vienna
Eva Benesch, Vienna
Acquired from the above by the family of the present owner in December 1981

(possibly) Vienna, Albertina, Egon Schiele-Gedächtnisausstellung, 1948, no. 304

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down and taped to the mount in the upper two corners. The left edge of the sheet is slightly deckled. There is a small restoration to the upper right corner (approximately 1cm wide), not visible when framed, as well as a repaired tear (approximately 1.5cm. long) to the upper part of the right edge and a few further tiny nicks along the extreme right edge. The sheet is slightly time stained and there are some faint flattened creases, notably to the upper left corner. This work is in otherwise very good condition and the lines are strong and well preserved.
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The sitter of this elegant portrait is Lilly Steiner (1884–1961), born in Vienna as Lilly Hofmann. Herself an artist, Steiner was a member of the Hagenbund, but only received recognition for her work after her move to Paris in 1927.  She married manufacturer Hugo Steiner who commissioned architect Adolf Loos to design their Viennese house, Villa Steiner, which remains an important and significant example of modernist architecture, to this day. 

The present work was executed in 1918 by which time Schiele was celebrated as a master draughtsman whose maturity was particularly evident in his renderings of female models. No longer an adolescent focusing only on their sexuality, Schiele was now able to render his female sitters with a sense of spirit and individuality, something beautifully realised in the present work. Writing about his portraiture from this period of his life, Jane Kallir observed: 'While Schiele's paintings of men can be perfunctory, suggesting a task done more for money than for love, the women in the drawings are invariably alert, vibrant human beings with a palpable presence. Just as Schiele once boldly chronicled the power of female sexuality, he now acknowledged female identity in a manner that was, for its day, hardly less radical' (Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: Drawings and Watercolours, London, 2003, p. 442).

Lilly Steiner's striking facial features captivated the young Schiele, who executed another four portraits of her, one of which is held today in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.