One of the most important artists of the early twentieth century, Egon Schiele is vastly influential—not just in his native Austria, where he was a major figure of Austrian expressionism, but around the world. Yet Schiele spent almost his entire life in Vienna and Lower Austria, and the cultural currents of the region can be seen in the ways he thought about and made art.
With Egon Schiele: The Beginning, Christian Bauer focused on Schiele’s early life and work, starting with his childhood in Tulln and following his career through his resignation from the Vienna Art Academy in 1909. Now, with Egon Schiele: Almost a Lifetime, Bauer sheds new light on how Schiele developed the essential elements of his creative practice—in Tulln and Vienna, but also Krems, Klosterneuburg, Neulengbach, and Mühling, where the artist was put to work in a POW camp and painted a number of imprisoned Russian officers. Drawing on recent research and a cache of unpublished photographs, the book explores a number of previously neglected influences on Schiele’s work, including his interest in x-ray technology and the art nouveau style of the artist and aristocrat Franz von Stuck.
Schiele’s work continues to inspire artists, critics, and collectors today. Packed with beautiful, large-scale reproductions, Egon Schiele: Almost a Lifetime shows the artist in the context of his homeland, including in the later stages of his career.
