Description:Dated by the artist '18.11.07' or November 18, 1907 in the lower right, this drawing had been part of a collective study of portrait drawings Schiele had created at the Academy of Fine Arts. Hand-signed by the artist in pencil in the lower right.
Evocative of mystery and subdued femininity, this Portrait of a Young Girl captures our gaze and inspires our curiosity with her wistful and pensive expression. Her eyes are portrayed with a vibrant twinkle, but with soft eyebrows and rounded cheeks, she also radiates a pensive grace that only Egon Schiele could capture in his work. Foreshadowing Max Ernst's textured technique of frotage, there exists an inherent surface quality in the manner of the shading which cannot be justly appreciated unless viewed with the naked eye. Herein also lies a fascinating directional element in the manner which Schiele applied the charcoal, creating bold, highly expressive strokes. Alluring and mysterious, this portrait was once thought to be Gertrude Schiele, however, according to a recent study by Schiele scholars she has been identified as the family maid. This rare, unique work is truly one of Schiele's more alluring and stunning portraits. Elaborately shaded and highly detailed, this serves as an example of the artist's uncanny sensibilities of capturing the human spirit.
PROVENANCE:
Galerie 10, Vienna.
From the Estate of Arnold Newman, New York.
Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
It is fully documented and referenced in (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that I will enclose with the sale of the work) :
1. Kallir, Jane. Egon Schiele : The Complete Works, expanded edition, New York, 1998. Listed and illustrated as cat. no. 89 on pg. 357.
About the Framing:
Conservation framed with archival materials and museum quality, the beautiful matted golds and subtle textured elements of the moulding all work together to enhance the stroke and detail of Schiele's drawing. Set in a Venetian-style frame, this piece is framed with white, linen-wrapped mats and a matching gold inner fillet behind an archival Plexiglas cover.
