Читать книгу Egon Schiele - Esther Selsdon - Страница 5

The nude study of the fiery redhead with the small belly, fleshy bosom and tousled pubic hair is his younger sister Gertrude (1894–1981). In another watercolour, Gerti reclines backwards, still fully clothed with black stockings and shoes, and lifts the black hem of her dress from under which the red orifice of her body appears. Schiele draws no bed, no chair, only the provocative gesture of his sister’s body offering itself. Incestuous fantasies? The sister, four years his junior, was a compliant subject for him.

At the same time as Sigmund Freud discovered that self-discovery occurs by way of erotic experiences, and “the urge to look” emerges as a spontaneous sexual expression within the child, young Egon recorded confrontations with the opposite sex on paper. He incorporated erotic games of discovery and shows an unabashed interest in the genitalia of his model into his nude studies. The forbidden gaze, searching for the opened female vagina beneath the rustling of the skirt hem and white lace. Gerti; with her freckled skin, green eyes and red hair, is the prototype of all the later women and models of Schiele.

Self-Portrait, 1912.

Pencil, watercolours and gouache, 46.5 x 31.5 cm.

Private collection.

The Truth Unveiled, 1913.

Gouache, watercolour and pencil, 48.3 x 32.1 cm.

Private collection.

Self-Portrait, 1910.

Gouache, watercolour and black crayon, 44.3 x 30.6 cm.

Leopold Collection, Leopold Museum, Vienna.

Self-Portrait, Facing Right, 1907.

Oil on cardboard, 32.4 x 31.2 cm.

Private collection.