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Lot Essay
The majority of Schiele's drawings of women in 1912 depict his model and lover Valerie Neuzil - known as 'Wally' - a woman who would over the next three years inspire some of the artist's most striking and provocative erotic drawings. Kniende Frau depicts a figure that is almost certainly Wally in a state of semi-undress crouching in a clearly manipulated and somewhat suggestive pose.
Wally Neuzill, who became Schiele's companion until 1915 when he married Edith Harms, had previously modeled for Gustav Klimt - Schiele's mentor and champion - and had been 'passed on' by the elder artist to the younger man in 1911. Although little is known about her, Wally played a key role in Schiele's art, inspiring and encouraging the already strong erotic current of his work to become ever more dramatic and intense.
For Schiele, sex and violence were the basic energies that underpinned all human existence. Schiele increasingly came to see the erotic drive as being one that underlay all life and sought in his art to explore the human sexual impulse in all its facets. As his work developed he increasingly came to compare sexual energy with the spiritual search for God and the state of physical ecstasy with spiritual transcendence. As a part of this search for an integration between man and God, the human form became for Schiele a vehicle for expressing both the complexity and intensity of human emotion.
In Kniende Frau Wally's fragile form is clearly delineated with the minimum of means. Schiele's swift and overtly confident line faultlessly outlines her compacted form which Schiele has deliberately emphasised by situating it towards the top of the blank paper sheet. Moderately highlighting her soft flesh, the weight of her body rests on her heavy legs which Schiele accentuates using a rich raw umber that clashes with and yet also compliments the deep olive green of her chemise. This use of a raw red to highlight Wally's pale flesh tones, is a technique often employed by Schiele to convey a sense of the flush of inner emotion and the living nature of the sexual energy of the figure.
Wally Neuzill, who became Schiele's companion until 1915 when he married Edith Harms, had previously modeled for Gustav Klimt - Schiele's mentor and champion - and had been 'passed on' by the elder artist to the younger man in 1911. Although little is known about her, Wally played a key role in Schiele's art, inspiring and encouraging the already strong erotic current of his work to become ever more dramatic and intense.
For Schiele, sex and violence were the basic energies that underpinned all human existence. Schiele increasingly came to see the erotic drive as being one that underlay all life and sought in his art to explore the human sexual impulse in all its facets. As his work developed he increasingly came to compare sexual energy with the spiritual search for God and the state of physical ecstasy with spiritual transcendence. As a part of this search for an integration between man and God, the human form became for Schiele a vehicle for expressing both the complexity and intensity of human emotion.
In Kniende Frau Wally's fragile form is clearly delineated with the minimum of means. Schiele's swift and overtly confident line faultlessly outlines her compacted form which Schiele has deliberately emphasised by situating it towards the top of the blank paper sheet. Moderately highlighting her soft flesh, the weight of her body rests on her heavy legs which Schiele accentuates using a rich raw umber that clashes with and yet also compliments the deep olive green of her chemise. This use of a raw red to highlight Wally's pale flesh tones, is a technique often employed by Schiele to convey a sense of the flush of inner emotion and the living nature of the sexual energy of the figure.