Images courtesy of Galerie St. Etienne, New York

Egon Schiele, an Austrian figurative painter, was a highly controversial figure. During his brief life and career at the beginning of the 20th Century he was praised for his portraits and denounced for his lascivious lifestyle. He thought highly of himself, but also suffered from persecution mania. Mixing self-aggrandizement and self-hatred, he poured his heightened sense of anxiety into his art. Much of it was made up of self-portraits, often nude and without a penis, reflecting his narcissism and dejection. Much of his other work consisted of female nudes.
     Schiele was recognized as a promising artist during his lifetime. A less known fact about Schiele is that he was an expert printmaker. In order to bring this aspect of his work to light, Galerie St. Etienne in New York has put together an exhibition of nearly fifty of Schiele’s prints, woodcuts, and etchings. Most of the work engages his already familiar themes. Schiele’s portraits, with their sad faces and contorted bodies reflect the torture of human condition, of the desire to be completely free to follow one’s instincts and the inability to do so because of social taboos. The female nudes are always overtly sexual, the stark red of their nipples emphasized against the dull colors of their twisted figures. His self-portraits reflect deeply rooted angst, half-hidden by a mask of cockiness. Angst is also the subject of Sorrow, the most powerful image of the exhibition. The listless female figure sitting on top of a rock could be a fitting illustration for Albert Camus’ seminal existentialist essay “The Myth of Sisyphus”.
     Egon Schiele As Printmaker is on view at Galerie St. Etienne until January 23, 2010.