.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Sitzender Akt (Seated Nude) is one of an outstanding series of nude studies that Schiele made in 1910 as part of his preparation for the two large format oil paintings of female nudes. These two paintings were part of a series of five oils which Schiele was commissioned to paint by Josef Hoffmann for the Internationale Jagdaustellung. Only one of these five paintings, a self-portrait male nude, has survived, the other four are lost although a photograph remains of one of the female nude paintings.
The series of watercolours that Schiele painted as studies for the female nudes marked the full flowering of this his first Expressionist period. The sitter Schiele used for these works was his younger sister Gerti. Schiele's main interest in each of these works is the dramatic outline of the female form isolated against a blank background. In the photograph that survives of the oil of a female nude, it is possible to discern that it derived from the studies of the figure of Gerti with her arms folded such as the watercolour of her now housed in the Albertina in Vienna. Sitzender Akt is closely related to a different pose. It is a slight variant of the portrait of Gerti with one arm raised that now belongs to the Museum der Stadt in Vienna. This watercolour was initially bought by Otto Wagner from the artist on the advice of Joseph Hoffmann and is very possibly the template for the other, now lost, oil painting. Although it does not share the same degree of garish and for the time highly provocative non-naturalistic colouring evident in the Wagner watercolour, Sitzender Akt is a remarkably similar work in its portrayal of Gerti, its composition, style and most of all its exquisite and extraordinary command of line.
The series of watercolours that Schiele painted as studies for the female nudes marked the full flowering of this his first Expressionist period. The sitter Schiele used for these works was his younger sister Gerti. Schiele's main interest in each of these works is the dramatic outline of the female form isolated against a blank background. In the photograph that survives of the oil of a female nude, it is possible to discern that it derived from the studies of the figure of Gerti with her arms folded such as the watercolour of her now housed in the Albertina in Vienna. Sitzender Akt is closely related to a different pose. It is a slight variant of the portrait of Gerti with one arm raised that now belongs to the Museum der Stadt in Vienna. This watercolour was initially bought by Otto Wagner from the artist on the advice of Joseph Hoffmann and is very possibly the template for the other, now lost, oil painting. Although it does not share the same degree of garish and for the time highly provocative non-naturalistic colouring evident in the Wagner watercolour, Sitzender Akt is a remarkably similar work in its portrayal of Gerti, its composition, style and most of all its exquisite and extraordinary command of line.