5 Minutes with an Artist -- Egon Schiele

The goal of this topic is how we can learn from another artist. I got my information from the book Egon Schiele's Portraits by Alessandra Comini.

Schiele lived in Vienna from 1890 to 1918 when he, like my grandfather's brother, died in the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. He didn't live to age 30.

Schiele used the composition device of how the figure fits on the page as part of his Expression. The self-portraits tell us about what Schiele was feeling inside himself.

This take on the artist and his model is an interesting version. Two pages from his sketchbook are insightful. We see how he visualizes the figure's shape.

He experienced the ending of a century and the 'ego-centric and exotic Vienna' and the 'decay of the Hapsburg Empire. We experienced the Y2K crisis and have avoided the end of the Mayan Calendar so far and our American Empire seems to be heading for a non-preeminent status.

Also living in Vienna was Sigmund Freud and Scheile's portraits were inspired from within a person's Psyche, (Expressionism), not from the world outside ourselves, (Impressionism).

Scheile's work was evolving and changing and Vienna from 1898 to 1909 was the scene of important exhibits for young artists to study. Van Gogh's charged portraits and Munch's agitated forms and pessimestic content were among the exhibits. The Viennese Expressionism movement was present. We are in the Post Post-Modern phase and every movement is available for our use as artists.

Early portraits had no narrative or painterly background. Later portraits were very richly painted.

Let us summarize some ideas for learning from Scheile.

Scheile had a short life. We should be prolific but eliminate the poor work and only save the best.

We should pay attention to our times and use current ideas in our art.

Schiele was a figure artist and we should also learn from his compositions, expressionism, and express our view of the human condition.

Self-portraiture is a good subject area for us to explore.

Take advantage of what art exhibits are in our museums and galleries and learn from them.

We can use our sketchbooks to capture ideas and visualize compositions.

See what art movements are happening and work in this style to learn new expressions.