Lot Essay
While Schiele's drawings in 1917 grow increasingly naturalistic, partly the result of receiving specific commissions, the point-of-view taken in some of the figure drawings is novel and adventurous. In the present drawing the artist has observed his model from above, or alternatively, has drawn her upside-down on her back. The foreshortening of the figure is successful from either angle, although the fall of her flowing hair would make the latter vantage point more plausible. This pose is partly echoed in Sturzende (Falling Woman), also done in 1917 (J. Kallir, op. cit, no. 1940). Indeed, in the present work, the figure appears adrift, or in a free fall, as if in a sculpture or drawing by Rodin, whose work was an important influence on Schiele.