拍品專文
Egon Schiele's sister, Gertrude, was his most frequent model throughout 1910, and Liegender Halbakt mit rotem Hut is one of the more finely-worked studies from this period. The erotic overtones of the piece are muted. Jane Kallir notes: "Schiele at twenty was not yet ready for a serious relationship with a member of the opposite sex ... It is not surprising that the beautiful Gerti, whom Egon delighted in showing off, made the perfect escort as well as the perfect model. The incestuous aspect of this relationship should not (as it sometimes is) be overemphasised, for Schiele's interest in his sister was more a flight from a full-fledged relationship than an erotic encounter in its own right. Gerti, who was sixteen in 1910, had another trait in common with many of Schiele's models at the time: her budding sexuality really was hermaphroditic, ill-defined, and hence non-threatening. Schiele, himself scarcely more than a child, was instinctively inclined to favour children as models" (J. Kallir, op. cit., p. 72).
Schiele's early paintings of Gerti convey something of her coy shyness. She rarely faces the viewer, and would later admit that she had been too embarrassed to pose nude at first and only allowed her brother to paint her from behind. Equally, the detached, voyeuristic angle from which the artist paints his model equally suggests an uneasy reluctance on Schiele's part to confront the female personality.
Stylistically Schiele's development in this year was staggering. Through countless figure studies he refined his line drawing to smooth, distinct contours and gradually his once bright palette was replaced by dusky mauves and deep blues. Limpid watercolour washes now enhance and animate his models. The distinctive 'body halo' of white gouache that Schiele used intermittently into 1911 serves to set off the interior colouring and embolden the contours of the drawings, especially those executed on dark packing paper which, according to some critics, was the only paper the aspiring young artist could afford. However it is interesting to note that many of the most powerful gouaches of Schiele's oeuvre are executed on this crisp brown paper which, having a slightly polished surface, does not easily absorb watercolour or gouache, thus leaving the colours to dry particularly strong and fresh on its surface.
Schiele's early paintings of Gerti convey something of her coy shyness. She rarely faces the viewer, and would later admit that she had been too embarrassed to pose nude at first and only allowed her brother to paint her from behind. Equally, the detached, voyeuristic angle from which the artist paints his model equally suggests an uneasy reluctance on Schiele's part to confront the female personality.
Stylistically Schiele's development in this year was staggering. Through countless figure studies he refined his line drawing to smooth, distinct contours and gradually his once bright palette was replaced by dusky mauves and deep blues. Limpid watercolour washes now enhance and animate his models. The distinctive 'body halo' of white gouache that Schiele used intermittently into 1911 serves to set off the interior colouring and embolden the contours of the drawings, especially those executed on dark packing paper which, according to some critics, was the only paper the aspiring young artist could afford. However it is interesting to note that many of the most powerful gouaches of Schiele's oeuvre are executed on this crisp brown paper which, having a slightly polished surface, does not easily absorb watercolour or gouache, thus leaving the colours to dry particularly strong and fresh on its surface.