Details

Provenance

Artist’s estate, stamped lower right; Anton Peschka Jr. (1914–1997), Vienna; Collection/Estate of Serge Sabarsky, New York, acquired from the aforementioned in 1983; Collection/Vally Sabarsky Foundation, New York.

Catalog summary

Egon Schiele<br>Gouache, watercolour and pencil, as well as chalk and pencil on brownish wove vellum. (1908)/1910. Approx. 31.5 x 44.5 cm and approx. 44.5 x 31.5 cm. Signed and dated on the reverse.<br>Period: Moderne Kunst<br>Technique: Arbeiten auf Papier<br>• Study for the lost painting “Portrait of a Lady in Profile” (Kallir P 109) • Innovative use of the picture frame as a space for action • From the renowned collection of Serge Sabarsky What she is doing there, Egon Schiele may have revealed to us in the painting “Portrait of a Lady in Profile”. The painting remains lost; the preparatory sketch leaves us to guess – and to fantasise. There sits a lady, using the picture frame as a window frame, into which she has casually settled … and, well, what exactly? Perhaps she is reading, catching up on the daily news or enjoying a novel, or educating herself with a scholarly publication? Perhaps she is engaged in some handicraft, darning socks, embroidering, sewing? Reading peas? Going through the household accounts, calculating, measuring, making tough decisions? It will remain a matter of speculation. Whilst Schiele shows us in his drawing how brilliantly he can turn picture frames into frames of action, the actual intended action remains hidden from us. Perhaps what is happening here remains hidden even in the finished painting, and perhaps it doesn’t matter. Perhaps the seated figure is a canvas for our imaginations, inviting our interpretations and our own narrative creativity. And perhaps, just perhaps, she is doing something unheard of, something we all do far too little: simply doing nothing.