[DOC] Chinese Porcelain (Mega Square Collection) by O. du Sartel at Arts-Photography

Description

Egon Schielersquo;s work is so distinctive that it resists categorisation. Admitted to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts at just sixteen; he was an extraordinarily precocious artist; whose consummate skill in the manipulation of line; above all; lent a taut expressivity to all his work. Profoundly convinced of his own significance as an artist; Schiele achieved more in his abruptly curtailed youth than many other artists achieved in a full lifetime. His roots were in the Jugendstil of the Viennese Secession movement. Like a whole generation; he came under the overwhelming influence of Viennarsquo;s most charismatic and celebrated artist; Gustav Klimt. In turn; Klimt recognised Schielersquo;s outstanding talent and supported the young artist; who within just a couple of years; was already breaking away from his mentorrsquo;s decorative sensuality. Beginning with an intense period of creativity around 1910; Schiele embarked on an unflinching exposeacute; of the human form ndash; not the least his own ndash; so penetrating that it is clear he was examining an anatomy more psychological; spiritual and emotional than physical. He painted many townscapes; landscapes; formal portraits and allegorical subjects; but it was his extremely candid works on paper; which are sometimes overtly erotic; together with his penchant for using under-age models that made Schiele vulnerable to censorious morality. In 1912; he was imprisoned on suspicion of a series of offences including kidnapping; rape and public immorality. The most serious charges (all but that of public immorality) were dropped; but Schiele spent around three despairing weeks in prison. Expressionist circles in Germany gave a lukewarm reception to Schielersquo;s work. His compatriot; Kokoschka; fared much better there. While he admired the Munich artists of Der Blaue Reiter; for example; they rebuffed him. Later; during the First World War; his work became better known and in 1916 he was featured in an issue of the left-wing; Berlin-based Expressionist magazine Die Aktion. Schiele was an acquired taste. From an early stage he was regarded as a genius. This won him the support of a small group of long-suffering collectors and admirers but; nonetheless; for several years of his life his finances were precarious. He was often in debt and sometimes he was forced to use cheap materials; painting on brown wrapping paper or cardboard instead of artistsrsquo; paper or canvas. It was only in 1918 that he enjoyed his first substantial public success in Vienna. Tragically; a short time later; he and his wife Edith were struck down by the massive influenza epidemic of 1918 that had just killed Klimt and millions of other victims; and they died within days of one another. Schiele was just twenty-eight years old.