Egon Schiele... tormented soul and fantastic draftsman

[Darkstrider]

Well, I'm pretty new in here, hope I'm not breaking any taboos or anything...

I discovered Schiele through Kent Williams, who is majorly influenced by his powerful style. So is Jeffrey Jones, though he tends toward much prettier, more lyrical figures. Here's an early drawing:
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/schiele/schiele.nude-mirror.jpg

...and a wild self portrait:
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/schiele/schiele.self-portrait.jpg

His paintings tend to be drawings with watercolor anf gouache dabbed on and scumbled around for added energy:
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/schiele/schiele.sitting-woman.jpg

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/EUR/1400-15030.jpg

He's got a fantastic feel for quick sketches:
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Milano/1417/08.jpg

Here's a huge site with loads of his stuff (that I just astumbled across while posting this): http://www.geocities.co.jp/Milano/1417/museum.html

[mtw]

Yeah, he's got good figure drawings. I was looking through a book of his, and I think I like his later drawings more than the earlier. That is if the book was in chronological order.

If you like these, you might want to check out Diebenkorn's (http://www.artnet.com/magazine_pre2000/reviews/stephen/stephens6-4-96.asp) figure drawings, and maybe Max Beckaman's. I'm not too familiar with them, but they've got some good ones.

[Darkstrider]

Yeah, the earlier drawings are more tormented and tortured, and really distorted. Wildly creative, but still showing an intense knowledge of figure drawing skills. In the later work he mellowed and drew more aesthetically pleasing work, less wild. Thanks for the tip on Diebenkorn and Beckmann. I'm fairly familiar with Beckmann already, but don't know much about Diebenkorn. I'll check that link.

[Bojee]

DS- If you check out Diebenkorn you should also check out
" Nathan Olivera" and "David Park" they're also part of the SF figurative school.

http://www.sfmoma.org/images/ma/exhib_detail/nathan_olivera.jpg

http://pressroom.hallmark.com/Images/Creative/FineArt-Photography/David-Park.jpg

I like how they break it down to the essentials.

Also do you know about Kathe Kowllitz's stuff?? you might like it.

http://www.url.it/oltreluna/attivita/img/imgguerra/kollowitz-5.jpg

I'm glad you started this one. :)

http://discipline.free.fr/peint/schiele_scornful.jpg

This is one of my favorites of Scheile.

[Darkstrider]

Thanks Boj!
Wow, that Schiele sketch is awesome, thanks for posting it.... I've never seen that one. Great find!

I wasn't familiar with any of the ones you mentioned except for Kollwitz. I really love her charcoal work.

Well, since we're expanding this into similar artists, I guess you really can't bring up Schiele without mentioning his mentor Gustav Klimt. I like to think of Klimt and Schiele as sort of the Jeff Jones and Kent Williams of the Jugendstijl. In each case the elder had a graceful sensuous line and lyrical figures while the protege began similarly and took it to a more powerful and tortured expressionist level. I would post some Klimt in here, but actually I think he deserves his own thread.

Here's a great little book of Schiele's available at Amazon:
http://store5.yimg.com/I/doverpublications_1789_240919332
...These little Dover books are great. They're the ones who also publis the companion book Gustav Klimt:100 Drawings, and the best thing is... the books are cheap as dirt!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0486281507/ref=pd_sim_books_1/102-5400525-6984950?v=glance&s=books

[Bojee]

DS- do you have Scheile's Sketchbooks ? another rare one. It's great to see the process behind the work.

I'll try to scan in a pic when I get a chance since I can't find one online. :D

[Bojee]

http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/bojee/books/sbook.jpg

OK, here it is.

[Darkstrider]

Must.... find.... that.... book
(to be read in William Shatner voice) ;)

Wow, I went searching for Egon Schiele Sketchbooks and found a great site: http://www.trueres.com/t_solu/schiele/

It really only has 4 pages of sketches, but hey, that's good enough for me! Here are some of the best:
http://www.trueres.com/t_solu/schiele/images/she_cover.jpg
http://www.trueres.com/t_solu/schiele/images/bwschiele02.gif
This one is just way too good to pass up... it's Schiele's portrait of Klimt:
http://www.trueres.com/t_solu/schiele/images/klimt.gif

[Bojee]

DS- :D lol,we could stick with Scheile for a while.

[ozan]

Originally posted by Darkstrider
[B]I discovered Schiele through Kent Williams, who is majorly influenced by his powerful style.

In what way did KW bring you to Schiele? Has KW pointed him out directly saying that he was an influance? Just wondering because by the time I learned of Schiele I was already in love with KW. And I recognized the influance and have always wondered how directly KW was giuded by Schiele.

[Bojee]

ozan- Not sure if Kent has ever sighted Schiele as a direct reference, I'm almost positive he has, these days he also says that Odd Nerdrum (<spelling?) is a influence as well. Check out his Sketchbook, in the back with photograph of him he's even trying to look like schiele. I think there's an even better match but this is from a quick search.
http://hem.passagen.se/baghe/html/pics/schiele.jpg
I think Kent's photo is a profile.

[Bojee]

http://www.kentwilliams.com/print/books/drawings.gif

This is the one I'm talking about. :)

[Darkstrider]

I do seem to remember Kent saying that in a book or something, but not sure where. Bojee, I have that book, and it's awesome. Maybe that's where it was. But before I ever read that (if I actually did) it went like this...

One day in my art appreciation class the instructor was just showing a bunch of slides of artists that we didn't really cover in class, but that he thought rated a little attention, and there were a couple of Schiele slides. That was the first time I had seen his work, and I just knew instantly that he was a major influence on Williams. Sometimes his characters have definite Schiele hands. Case in point:
http://www.kentwilliams.com/news/ecu.jpg
...This could almost BE Schiele. It's definitely a tribute... sort of kent painting himself as Schiele.

[Bojee]

DS- Great posts, I loved this when I found it. You know damn well schiele is a huge influence, I'm just not sure if I've ever seen it written down.

Are you sure this painting is of Kent? I know Kent paints himself a lot , but I saw a picture of one of his models somewhere and it looks more like him. Could be wrong though?? Who cares:rolleyes: , It's still a kick ass painting and a great post. :D I'd love to be able to see him paint one day.:)

[Darkstrider]

That could be. yeah, he does use a model, I think his name is Stacy. There's one in the Works exhibition catalog of him wearing a gas mask. I know I saw another one of his somewhere, where you could see his face, and he sorta looks like Kent. I don't know, but I think the people he paints are all his friends, and of course his wife and kids.

I think even if he did use a model on that one, he put a lot of himself into it.

[Bojee]

Mike- I definitely agree,sorry that was silly.:rolleyes:

[Jeremy McHugh]

I've loved Egon Schiele's work for a long time. A deeply personal and often grotesque self-examination is what, strangely enough, drew me to his work. His blind contour drawings were filled with such raw sensitivity. Touching really ( and disturbing).

I've had the pleasure of viewing his work in the flesh during my all too brief travels over seas. The small town of Czesky Krumlov ( about an hour or so out of Prague) had a collection of his drawings on display. Also saw some of his larger works at the National Gallery in Prague. Very impressive. I've never felt more privileged. :)
---Jeremy

[Bojee]

Jeremy McHugh- Have you ever been to the Neua(< Spelling) Gallery in New York ?? they have a lot of scheile, klimt, Beckman, and others. It's a small place but a nice collection. It's real close to the met.

Mike - I thought you might like these, I was in a show called "Fake" where artists were supposed to reproduce a famous artist's work. It was about the value of the work what makes it valuable. The work was supposed to be reproduce same demensions, same medium. I chose Scheile and these are my attempts.
http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/bojee/shows/fake2.jpg

http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v88/bojee/shows/fake1.jpg

please excuse the bad photos, I think the guy's standing in front of the most successful of them. :)