Egon Schiele. The Complete Paintings 1909–1918

by Tobias G. Natter (Editor)

After Egon Schiele (1890-1918) freed himself from the shadow of his mentor and role model Gustav Klimt, he had just ten years to inscribe his signature style into the annals of modernity before the Spanish flu claimed his life. Being a child prodigy quite aware of his own genius and a passionate provocateur, this didn’t prove to be too big a challenge. His haggard, overstretched figures, drastic depiction of sexuality, and self-portraits in which he staged himself with emaciated facial expressions bordering between brilliance and madness, had none of the decorative quality of Klimt’s hymns of love, sexuality, and yearning devotion. Instead, Schiele’s work spoke of a brutal honesty, one that would upset and irreversibly change Viennese society. Although his works were later defamed as “degenerate” and for a time were almost forgotten altogether, they influenced generations of artists – from Günter Brus and Francis Bacon to Tracey Emin. Today, his then-misunderstood oeuvre continues to fetch exorbitant prices on the international art market. Presented in a voluminous format that captures all of the intensity and emotional truth of his work, Egon Schiele. The Complete Paintings 1909–1918 features 221 paintings and 146 drawings that retrace the fertile last decade of Schiele’s life. With many pieces newly photographed for this edition, these works are paired with excerpts from his countless writings and poems, as well as essays introducing his life and oeuvre, to situate the Austrian master in the context of European Expressionism and trace his extraordinary legacy.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

608 pages, Hardcover

Published May 12, 2017

Reviews

[Drew Plummer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another visual feast from Taschen. The printing of this book is exquisite, and the paintings, along with the occasional detail, are probably the next best thing to seeing the works in person.

The catalogue of paintings is thorough, well researched and well written. The brief analyses of each painting were insightful and illuminating, informative without being jargon heavy. I thought this was the most valuable part of the writing in the book.

A brief section of Schiele’s letters was an interesting digression, and the section on his poetry was an absolute little gem.

The essays kept the book at 4 stars for me. They were written by a variety of authors, some with more accessible styles than others, and don’t really form a cohesive or thorough narrative as the Taschen monographs more typically do.

Overall a lovely addition to any coffee table, and a valuable reference for any lover of art history.

[Uwe Daßler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welch ein Werk in so einem kurzen Leben.

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once upon a time I was standing in a bookstore with a wall of hundreds of books and there was only one cover that attracted me, Egon Schiele.

Fast forward 2 months: watercolor, oil painting, aisle, pastels. This inspirational book jumpstarted my art interest.

I should mention that I’ve not read all the text but it was mainly about my emotional reaction to his artwork.

[Tee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous and phenomenal book - phenomenal size (20" x 12" x 2.75") with correspondingly large, detailed color reproductions and close-ups of the artwork, phenomenal weight (15 lbs), and a phenomenal amount of detail. That said, I'm not sure I'm qualified to review this book since I did not even know at the start what a catalogue raissoné is. I read most of the first three-fourths of the book, and several of the descriptions in the catalogue section.

My observations, in no particular order:
Only paintings are included, not drawings/works on paper.

The first couple years of Schiele's work are omitted to save space (there are still 608 pages and the afore-mentioned 15 lbs).

If you have ever tried to read a book about art and been disappointed in the size and quality of the artwork pictured, this book is your antidote. Great reproductions!

Find a comfortable chair with good lighting and ample room for the book to lay open on your lap. Prepare to do a lot of flipping back and forth as you go from sections of text to the artwork. If you ever read in bed, you won't do so with this book!

I wish there had been a general index. There are notes, a bibliography, a concordance (cross reference with other catalogues raissoné), an index of paintings, index of drawings, even an index of poems, but there is no general index (in particular, I wanted to find all references to "Jugendstil" and "sunflowers").

I would not read the sections of this book in the order in which they are presented. I'd read in this order: Introduction, Biography, then look at all the pictures, Letters & Poems (possibly skipping the essay at the beginning of this section), Catalogue, then all the remaining essays.

I was not impressed with the essays which I found overly dense, except for essay IV by Jill Lloyd, who was much more readable.

Essay II "The Aesthetic of Transformation" annoyed me because author Helena Pereña raised the question in her very first paragraph of why Schiele so often omitted feet from his portraits and then proceeded not to provide any answer (or if she did, it went over my head). I'm still seeking an answer!

[Chuy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Egon Schiele is my favorite artist. The essays along with the chosen artwork made for a perfect journey of his life. I feel like now I have a fairly solid idea of who the man was. Ambitious little weirdo.