Egon Schiele

World of Art

by Frank Whitford

Shunned by his family and society due to his fascination with young girls, Schiele poured his profound isolation and fixation on sexuality, mortality, and decay into his art. Despite dying at just twenty-eight, his enduring legacy and myth are explored in this book.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography, Art History

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Born Francis Peter Whitford in Bishopstoke, Hampshire, on 11 August 1941, the son of Peter Whitford and his wife Katherine Ellen (nee Rowe). He was educated at Peter Symonds School in Winchester and attended Wadham College, Oxford, graduating in 1963 with a third-class honours in English language and literature because he preferred drawing to studying. A self-taught artist, he designed posters and worked as an actor in student films and illustrator for student magazines.

He subsequently studied German art at the Courtauld Institute, earning an academic diploma in the history of art in 1965. He worked as a cartoonist and illustrator on the Sunday Mirror in 1965-66 before switching to drawing pocket cartoons for the Evening Standard in 1966-67. Richard J. Evans, in his obituary for The Guardian (23 January 2014), quotes Whitford as saying: "Almost daily for four years or so, I churned out a pocket cartoon, trying to be funny and politically astute at the same time. I was rarely if ever successful, which explains why my career was so short, only briefly extended by changing papers and editors in midstream."


Whitford did not consider himself a particularly good cartoonist, avoiding drawing feet, which he found particularly tricky, whenever possible. His cartoons covered many areas of British political life at a time when Harold Wilson was Prime Minister and some of the major events affecting the UK were centred on apartheid South Africa and the independence of Southern Rhodesia, but he felt that foreign artists like Vicky (Victor Weisz) were able to better recognise the absurdities of British politics.

With the aid of a Ford Foundation scholarship, Whitford attended the Free University of Berlin, graduating with a degree in art history in 1969. The next year he began lecturing on the history of art at University College London before becoming a senior lecturer at Homerton College, Cambridge, in 1974. When the art history department was closed in 1986, Whitford began freelancing and tutored history of art at the Royal College of Art; he was awarded a higher doctorate at the RCA in 1989.

He had continued to contribute cartoons – as Rausch – to the Sunday Mirror in the 1970s, but it was as a an art critic with the Sunday Times and Cambridge Evening News that he returned to newspapers in 1991. Ge was already established as a writer, having worked as a contributing editor to Studio International between 1964 and 1973, and as the author of books on Kandinsky (London, Hamlyn, 1967 [1968]), Expressionism (London, Hamlyn, 1970), Japanese Prints and Western Painters (London, Studio Vista, 1977), Egon Schiele (London, Thames & Hudson, 1981), Bauhaus (London, Thames & Hudson, 1984), George Grosz: The Day of Reckoning (London, Allison & Busby, 1984), Love Above All (London, Allison & Busby, 1985), Oskar Kokoschka: A life (London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986), Expressionist Portraits (London, Thames & Hudson, 1987), Trog: Forty graphic years: The art of Wally Fawkes (London, Fourth Estate, 1987), Understanding Abstract Art (London, Barrie & Jenkins, 1987), Gustav Klimt (London, Thames & Hudson, 1990), Bauhaus: Masters and Students by Themselves (London, Conran Octopus, 1992), The Berlin of George Grosz: Drawings, watercolours and prints, 1912-1930 (New Haven & London, Yale University Press, 1997), Kandinsky: Watercolours and other works on paper (London, Thames & Hudson, 1999), as well as numerous introductions for exhibitions.

Whitford also appeared as the broadcaster, appearing as a team captain on the Channel 4 gameshow Gallery in the 1980s, presenting two series about cartoonists on Radio 4 in the early 1990s and writing and presenting the video documentary Bauhaus: The Face of the 20th Century (1994).

He was awarded the federal cross of the Order of Merit in Germany in 2002.

Whitford is survived by his wife, Cecilia (Cici) Dresser, a specialist in Japanese art who worked in the Cambridge University Library, whom he m

Reviews

[Anders · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last book I read was Willeford's "Burnt Orange Heresy" featuring an aspiring art critic. This book is written by an art critic. I can get with most of what Whitford is saying, he's doing a good job walking the line of guessing and explaining of the deceased artist's intentions and real-life motives. I'm fascinated reading about turn of the century Vienna, and of course, the art that came out of the epoch mirrors the corrupt and false state of affairs in Austria-Hungary at the time, that's how the history books, like this one, lay it out.(Freud's Psychoanalysis, Second Viennese school's atonal music etc.) The Wiener Werkstatte was the high-ranking local art scene it seems. Every scene has a center and Schiele grew into it, in his own impressing way. Now, of course the thing I see when exposed to his art is an individual carving out vermilion, radical, but believable portraits. I like artist biographies, this attempt to chart the creative forces within a Schiele was a fascinating read in this regard. Lots of paintings included in the book, which is a huge plus.

[Luca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything you would want in an artist’s biography. Enough detail to keep you interested, enough left out to avoid excess or boredom. Tidbits about the life, historical context and criticisms of Egon Schiele the Austrian; all wound together with an analysis that attempts to puncture the veiled mind of the debatably troubled Egon Schiele the Artist. The Artist debases himself as a crywanker in pencil and paint, and the Austrian confirms himself as such through inflated self-aggrandisement and the over-exaggeration of his commitments to Gustav Klimt. Nevertheless, this adds even more mystery to the man’s notoriously duplicitous nature, the rotting decay of his self portraits standing completely at odds with the indulgence he craves at every turn toward a reflective surface.

I expected his character to be more Kafkaesque: reserved, quiet as a mouse, elusive. Yet, Schiele’s personality, and indeed the outcome of his life, seems more akin to that of a penny-dreadful Dorian Gray: consumed in himself, ravaged by egoism, ultimately to be killed off by a sneeze. A real tragedy for such a genuine creative talent and divinely self-absorbed individual to have died at just 28 years old from something as benign as the flu; which I’m sure he’ll be turning in his grave at, as once again, his critics will claim that Klimt did it first.

[C.A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything I wanted. Gave great background information while being easy to access. I'm always so curious on motivations and current events that influence artists.
Will definitely be looking into other books by this author.

When I was in Vienna last summer, I looked at everything I could by Klimt. The last museum I visited had a huge exhibit by his somewhat student & contemporary, Schiele, who I had never heard of. His art blew me away and now I'm mildly obsessed. So sad he died so young

[Christopher Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

My time appears to have been apt - I read this in a single day at the start of 2021, with the latest flu pandemic raging all around us, and the number of dead from the virus approaching one and a half million globally; and here I read, at the conclusion of this fine book, that first Klimt, then Schiele's young, pregnant wife, and then finally Egon Schiele himself, all succumbed to the flu pandemic that raged even more fiercely a hundred years ago. A warning if ever one was needed.

This superb biography covers not only the life of the artist Egon Schiele, but also the art circle he was a part of in Vienna between the start of the twentieth century and his death just after the Great War. Schiele's art continues to fascinate, but as a person he must have been extremely hard work. Is that at all surprising? Perhaps not - Schiele provides another lesson, in case one were needed, that we ought to dissociate the artist from the art.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the things that interest me, art is, I have to admit, a bit lower down the list than it probably should be. I have always, however, had a connection to the work of Egon Schiele and was fortunate enough to see some of his greatest works, including ‘Death and the Maiden’ when I visited Vienna last year. This book has been sitting on my shelf for a little while, and I have finally made time, on a rainy Sunday, to catch up, with the accompaniment of the wonderful ‘Music for Egon Schiele’ by Rachel’s – which I thoroughly recommend.

The text in this book presents a perfectly pitched overview of Schiele’s life, and the world he lived in (art and politics casting a huge shadow on both). My only gripe would be how many of the pictures are black and white, losing one of the elements that makes Schiele’s work so compelling. But it’s a small matter – there are plenty of illustrations in this book representing the overall canon well.
For someone with a poor overall knowledge of art, I was not out of my depth in this book, in fact it was pitched perfectly and the well presented bibliography provides me further avenues to follow. I shall turn to the ‘World of Art’ series again…

[Ali Miremadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good art book - enough biography without going crazy, plenty of illustrations. Given the book is close to fifty years old, it’s an interesting artefact in itself. Schiele’s reputation went nowhere after his death until the 60s, according to Whitford, and clearly was on the rise in the early 1980s, or the book wouldn’t have been written. I wonder how it has gone since? To me, Schiele’s drawings and paintings are unpleasant but compelling, which is often true for completely different artists (lots of Picasso, and pretty much all of Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud, to pick three other 20th century painters).

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting and inspiring for an art student, some parts did feel like filler though, and others as though they could have been worded much better.
Overall good book though, I enjoyed it :)

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent biography and critical analysis of the enigmatic artist.

[Ingrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably one of the better-written artist biographies I've read, striking a good balance between art analysis, character analysis, and interesting anecdotes to keep things moving along. I do wish more of the illustrations were in color, as detailed discussions on the importance of color selection are often paired with black-and-white reproductions. I also think Whitford is a bit too cavalier and uncritical of Schiele's treatment of his young models, both interpersonally and on the canvas.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really great overview of Schiele's short life and theories on his work. The author is obviously an admirer of Schiele's, but admits when his paintings were not fully resolved or his notions of himself and art were immature. Whitford also does a good job of explaining the cultural context of Schiele's oeuvre and debunks some of the "troubled, misunderstood artist" myths surrounding him. A little bit short but a good introduction to the artist that appeared to be really honest.

[Edward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short but informative introduction to the artist, his personal life, development as a painter, and his reception by his contemporaries. Some illustrations in the text are in color but most are not. However, that is not a distraction as the author tries to convey the important aspects of Schiele's style in relation to the influence of Klimt, Kokoschka, and Viennese society during the beginning of the 20th century.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book to read if you're interested to find out a little bit of information about Schiele. Also includes some color and black and white reproductions of his works which help reinforce his life story. However, if you already know a bit about him, and are looking to find out a lot more, this is probably not the book for you.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be so interesting and really a nice touch into the life of a very interesting artist. It was a fast read and I really found it to be so informative.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite lavishly illustrated review of this artists life and work.