Although Egon Schiele died of the Spanish flu in 1918 at the age of twenty-eight, he left behind a substantial, though controversial, oeuvre that will forever mark him as one of Austria's most talented Expressionists. Influenced at first by Gustav Klimt, Schiele soon developed a style of his own, abandoning decorative ornamentation in favor of a highly expressive style. His work, which relates to fundamental aspects of human life--eroticism, sexuality, and death--created a scandal in early 20th-century Vienna, and the artist was denounced by critics and government authorities. In addition to his starkly realistic nudes, he also executed profoundly sensitive portraits in which he explored the inner essence of his subjects. In this volume Jane Kallir, author of numerous books on Egon Schiele, including the catalogue raisonne of his entire oeuvre, offers a fascinating survey of the artist's life and work. The majority of the works presented here--paintings, colored drawings, and photographs--are from the comprehensive Schiele collection of the Albertina Museum in Vienna.
About the Author, Jane Kallir
Born in 1890, Austrian expressionist artist Egon Schiele was constantly at odds with art critics and society for most of his brief life. Even more than Gustav Klimt, Schiele made eroticism one of his major themes and was briefly imprisoned for obscenity in 1912. His treatment of the nude figure suggests a lonely, tormented spirit haunted rather than fulfilled by sexuality. At first strongly influenced by Klimt, whom he met in 1907, Schiele soon achieved an independent anticlassical style wherein his jagged lines arose more from psychological and spiritual feeling than from aesthetic considerations. He painted a number of outstanding portraits, such as that of his father-in-law Johann Harms (1916), and a series of unflinching and disquieting self-portraits. Late works such as 'The Family' (1918) reveal a newfound sense of security. Schiele died in 1918.
