Egon Schiele Lot n° 10

Egon Schiele Two Standing Female Nudes, Embracing 1913 Pencil drawing on Simili-Japan. 46.9 x 31.1 cm. Framed under glass. Signed and dated 'Egon Schiele 1913' lower right. - In good condition. Slightly browned. Calligrapher 1354 Provenance Adolf Hintringer; Galerie St. Etienne, New York; Albert Millman; Galerie Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich, auction 30, December 12, 1978, lot 1659 (there as landscape format); Günter P. Landmann Collection, Munich Exhibitions Berkeley/Pasadena 1963 (Art Gallery of the University of California/Art Museum), Viennese Expressionism 1910-1924, cat. No. 53; New York 1965 (Galerie St. Etienne), Egon Schiele (1890-1918): Watercolors and Drawings from American Collections, cat. No. 47; Philadelphia 1969 (Museum of the Philadelphia Civic Center), Creative Austria, 20th Century: Art, Design, History; New York 1969 (Galerie St. Etienne), Austrian Art of the 20th Century; New York 1970 (Galerie St. Etienne), Egon Schiele: The Graphic Work Egon Schiele's life had largely calmed down in 1913, after the previous year of 1912 had been marked by a short prison sentence for the "dissemination of indecent drawings" and his move from the Austrian provinces back to Vienna. The upheavals that accompanied these events had the effect of softening the radicalism of his erotic depictions, introducing "an element of aesthetic detachment that placed greater emphasis on unusual compositions and poses", as Jane Kallir describes (in: Egon Schiele. Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, Vienna 2003, p. 222). Our drawing of a female couple in an intimate embrace has a motivic connection with the works "Embrace" and "Friendship" (Kallir 1353 and 1355); all three drawings show the same female nudes. While the two aforementioned works are executed in gouache and watercolor, our depiction concentrates solely on the outline drawing. The formal change that Egon Schiele's drawing style underwent in 1913 is clearly evident here; his strokes become looser and more angular. This increasing geometrization is attributed to the influence of Cubism, which the artist became acquainted with through publications and fellow artists during this period. Schiele's concentration on formal aspects goes hand in hand with the increasing anonymity of his models, who now often avoid eye contact with the viewer or turn their heads away completely. Schiele deliberately neglects details in favor of the formal unity that the couple forms. It is not their personalities but the interwoven lines of their bodies that are the focus of his interest.