| EGON SCHIELE (1890-1918 | |||
The artist and painter who, during his short
life, developed from a Jugendstil artist into the exponent of Viennese
expressionism. Because nearly his entire family worked for the Austrian
railways, Egon Schiele was expected to do the same. Instead, this
self-willed young man signed up for the Viennese art academy. He admired
Sezession and in particular Gustav Klimt whom he had met in 1907 and who
took him under his wing as a protégé. In Schiele’s early work his liking
for Eastern-Asian art can be recognized immediately, and it links up
perfectly with the illustrative, ornamental Viennese Jugendstil. Later on
he developed a powerful angular style which was entirely his own, and
which made him into the exponent of early Viennese expressionism. Much of
his work consists of portraits, including many self portraits where he
sometimes distinguished himself from his subject in a most frightening
fashion. Its sexual aspect, which is nearly always present, is sometimes
explicitly expressed. The combination of colours, which was added after
the drawing was finished, is sharp and alienating. Death, with which he
was frequently confronted during his short life, played a big part in his
choice of subject. Egon Schiele led a short, eventful and, for those days,
scandalous life. In 1918 he died of the Spanish flu, 28 years of age, and
some months after his young wife Edith fell victim to the same epidemic.
Gerti Shiele in Kartiertem Tuch (chequered cloth) When Egon was only 15 years old his father, who had become insane because of syphilis, died after his younger sister had died earlier. After this, the relationship with his mother became very difficult, but the bond with his sister Gerti remained strong (which, according to the local opinion, in fact showed ‘unhealthy aspects’). In this beautiful, modest portrait of Gerti, style aspects of both Sezession and of Shiele’s later, harsh expressionist work can be recognized. |
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