Egon Schiele

Private Collection, Milan
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works, New York, 1998, no. 2026a, illustrated p. 585
Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: Drawings & Watercolours, New York, 2003, illustrated p. 433

This work is in very good condition. Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down. The sheet is fixed to the mount at several points along the perimeter of the verso. The upper and left edges are slightly irregular. There is a slight waviness to the sheet along the upper edge. The sheet is lightly discolored and there is a faint old mat stain. There are a few scattered flattened creases: across upper and lower right corners, at center right edge, just below the center of the composition and in the upper left quadrant.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In the final years of his tragically short life, Schiele achieved a new level of artistic maturity, adopting an assured, elegant and arresting line. As Jane Kallir observes: "He had always been a demon draftsman, capable of achieving stop-action effects comparable to those of photography, and his line, by 1917, had acquired an unprecedented degree of precision... Schiele's drawing technique—the armature upon which all his painted forms rested—had acquired an almost classical purity. Peschka accused him, with some accuracy, of reverting to Griepenkerl's precepts, and it is true that Schiele's work manifested a heretofore unknown fidelity to the representational integrity of his subject matter and a new sensitivity to the ability of line to suggest volume. Schiele's hand had never been surer, more capable of grasping, in a single breathtaking sweep, the complete contour of a figure. This extreme dexterity invited mannerism; when his subject was not particularly exciting, drawing was just too easy for him. And yet, when he was inspired, his execution was flawless; he had found, in the best of his late work, the perfect line" (Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele, Life and Work, New York, 2003, pp. 223 & 230).