Читать книгу Egon Schiele - Esther Selsdon - Страница 13

Perhaps because schiele opposed the plans of his uncle who would have liked to persuade his ward to enter military service, czihaczec withdrew his guardianship in 1910. During the same period, the incident with the mysterious lover occurred, of which, with the exception of an exchange of letters with the gynaecologist, erwin von graff, who assured schiele that he had admitted her to his clinic and was attending to her, nothing is known. Schiele dealt with this incident in several paintings: Birth of the Genius and The Dead Mother. He painted a foetus, which, still in its mother’s womb, stares at the viewer.

Self-Portrait with Lavender Shirt and Dark Suit, Standing, 1914.

Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper, 48.4 x 32.2 cm.

Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna.

Self-Portrait, Nude, 1910.

Gouache, watercolour, black crayon and white highlighting, 44.9 x 31.3 cm.

Leopold Collection, Leopold Museum, Vienna.

During this time, studies in love and death went hand-in-hand. On the one hand, the sexual act is associated with the danger of pregnancy and the possibility of dying in childbirth. The life-giving body may be destroyed by death. On the other hand, syphilis lurked in every kiss. Is it possible to explain the subliminal, morbid trait in schiele’s world? In the cult book of that time, sex and character by the author otto weninger, the role of the woman was limited solely to her biological function of childbearing. Weninger commented that men of significance should only get involved with prostitutes, whereas freud posed that their upbringing denies women the ability to deal on an intellectual level with sexual problems, which is where they have the greatest need for knowledge, yet society reacts with condemnation of this desire for knowledge as unfeminine and as a sign of a sinful predisposition.

Freud attributed the alleged intellectual inferiority of women to sexual repression, which resulted in the inhibition of thought.

Accompanied by his friend, the painter and mime Erwin Osen, Schiele fled to Krumau where they spent the summer with a dancer named Moa (pp. 31, 115, 116), the lover of osen. There, schiele also made the acquaintance of the young baccalaureate willy lidl, who avowed his deep love for him. Back in vienna, schiele shared his atelier with max oppenheimer (1885–1954). Day in, day out, he lived from hand to mouth. Even if young schiele lamented his financial woes, he quickly managed to get on his feet again and find support from friends and patrons. Then, in 1910, weiner werkstatte, established in 1903, printed three of schiele’s picture cards; at the same time one of his paintings was shown at the international hunters’ exhibition in the context of the klimt group. A further exhibition at the klosterneuburg monastery exhibited the portrait of eduard kosmack and that of a boy, rainerbub, son of the viennese orthopaedist and surgeon max rainer (1910). As early as 1911, the first monograph on schiele, penned by the artist and poet albert paris von gütersloh, was published. In the same year, arthur roessler reviewed schiele’s works in the monthly periodical bildende künstler. In vienna, schiele took part in the collective exhibition at the miethke gallery.