Egon Schiele

Wilhelm Schab, New York
Serge Sabarsky, New York
Private Collection, Illinois (acquired from the above in 1975 and sold: Sotheby's, London, February 4, 2015, lot 320)
Acquired at the above sale by A. Alfred Taubman

New York, Sabarsky Gallery, Expressionists, 1972-73, no. 74, illustrated in the catalogue

Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works, London, 1990, no. 2210, illustrated p. 608
Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works, London, 1998, no. 2210, illustrated p. 608
Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: Drawings and Watercolours, London, 2006, n.n., illustrated in color p. 463
Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele's Women, London, 2012, no. 223, illustrated in color p. 233

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, attached to the mount at all four corners and floating in the overmount. There is an artist's pinhole to the center of the upper edge and the extreme left edge is uneven in places and the sheet is slightly timestained. There is some creasing to the upper and lower edges, the most prominent being a diagonal crease across the lower right corner, and all of which is away from the image. There is some light discoloration to the upper corners and center of the extreme left edge, possibly due to previous mounting. There appear to be two very small repaired tears to the extreme right edge. Overall this work is in good condition.
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.

The sitter for this beautiful and elegant portrait is Lilly Steiner (1884–1961). Born in Vienna as Lilly Hofmann, she was herself an artist and a member of the Hagenbund, although she only really received recognition as an artist following her move to Paris in 1927. She married the manufacturer Hugo Steiner who commissioned architect Adolf Loos to design their Viennese house, Villa Steiner, which remains an important and significant example of modernist architecture to this day. 

The present work was executed in 1918. By then Schiele was recognized as a master draughtsman and had reached a maturity which was particularly evident in his renderings of female models. No longer an adolescent focusing only on their sexuality, he was now able to render his sitters with a sense of spirit and individuality that is beautifully realized in the present work. Writing about his portraiture from this last phase of his life, Jane Kallir observed: "While Schiele's paintings of men can be perfunctory, suggesting a task done more for money than for love, the women in the drawings are invariably alert, vibrant human beings with a palpable presence. Just as Schiele once boldly chronicled the power of female sexuality, he now acknowledged female identity in a manner that was, for its day, hardly less radical" (Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: Drawings and Watercolours, London, 2003, p. 442).

Lilly Steiner's striking facial features certainly fascinated Schiele; he executed a further four portraits of her, one of which is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In the present work, Schiele beautifully combines his skills as a draughtsman, visible in the depiction of his model’s face, with his skills as a colorist of great nuance and refinement.