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Lot Essay
On June 17th, 1915, Egon Schiele married Edith Harms. Four days after his wedding, Schiele was inducted into the army. Following his medical exams, Schiele was classified as fit for limited service only and all his assignments were centered close to Vienna. While not on duty, he was allowed to live in his studio and continued to work throughout this time. Despite these special arrangements, Schiele still felt very oppressed by his military obligations.
In August of 1915, Schiele applied for a period of sick leave and during this time he executed a number of portrait studies of Edith in various poses, including the life-size oil Portrait of Edith Schiele Standing, which shows Edith wearing a multi-colored striped dress (Kallir P.290; Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague). The present work was likely to have been painted at this time. Jane Kallir has commented:
Schiele's push toward greater versimilitude and volumetric fidelity . . . persists in 1915 . . . Over the course of 1915, the increasingly naturalistic line will hew ever closer to the shape of the subject, as the element of graphic stylization progressively recedes. This development yields smoother, cleaner countours . . . A very soft pencil line (sometimes mimicking charcoal) gives the lines new strength and sensuality. The bold, Fauvistic coloring evident since 1913 is replaced by a more restrained, less expressive palette that conforms to the appearance of the subject at hand . . . Short dry strokes of gouache caress and mold the flesh; drapery, translucent from mid-1914 through early 1915, gradually becomes denser, reverting to the blocks of solid colors that Schiele had previously favored (Kallir, op. cit., p. 546).
In August of 1915, Schiele applied for a period of sick leave and during this time he executed a number of portrait studies of Edith in various poses, including the life-size oil Portrait of Edith Schiele Standing, which shows Edith wearing a multi-colored striped dress (Kallir P.290; Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague). The present work was likely to have been painted at this time. Jane Kallir has commented:
Schiele's push toward greater versimilitude and volumetric fidelity . . . persists in 1915 . . . Over the course of 1915, the increasingly naturalistic line will hew ever closer to the shape of the subject, as the element of graphic stylization progressively recedes. This development yields smoother, cleaner countours . . . A very soft pencil line (sometimes mimicking charcoal) gives the lines new strength and sensuality. The bold, Fauvistic coloring evident since 1913 is replaced by a more restrained, less expressive palette that conforms to the appearance of the subject at hand . . . Short dry strokes of gouache caress and mold the flesh; drapery, translucent from mid-1914 through early 1915, gradually becomes denser, reverting to the blocks of solid colors that Schiele had previously favored (Kallir, op. cit., p. 546).