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Lot Essay
By 1917, Schiele's depictions of nudes began to draw a wider and more responsive audience, partly the result of a more tolerant moral climate nearing the end of the First World War, but also because of the artist's more appealing naturalistic treatment of his subjects. Jane Kallir contends, "Schiele's style itself was no longer as shocking as it had been several years earlier; the humanism of his portraits and the refined naturalism of his line were far more accessible than had been his jarring allegories and frenetic watercolors" (in Egon Schiele: Life and Work, New York, 2003, p. 218). The shocking eroticism and tormented detail of Schiele's early style had yielded to a more classical and volumetric treatment of the figure, while his usage of a velvety, lush charcoal or Conté crayon imbued these works with seductive sensuality.
In the present work, Schiele retains the erotic positioning and unabashed sexual exposure common to his early works, but counters this implied exhibitionism with elegant, almost restrained, draftsmanship. This duality of overt eroticism and elegant depiction of the female form is perhaps Schiele's nod to his great teacher Gustav Klimt, whose success was founded in deftly combining fantasy, sexuality and sheer beauty (fig. 1).
(fig. 1) Gustav Klimt, Danae, 1907-1908. Private collection, Graz.
In the present work, Schiele retains the erotic positioning and unabashed sexual exposure common to his early works, but counters this implied exhibitionism with elegant, almost restrained, draftsmanship. This duality of overt eroticism and elegant depiction of the female form is perhaps Schiele's nod to his great teacher Gustav Klimt, whose success was founded in deftly combining fantasy, sexuality and sheer beauty (fig. 1).
(fig. 1) Gustav Klimt, Danae, 1907-1908. Private collection, Graz.