Sale: 525 / Evening Sale, Dec. 10. 2021 in Munich Lot 200

 

200
Egon Schiele
Schlafendes Mädchen (Melanie Schiele), 1908.
Pencil drawing, with watercolors
Estimate:
€ 150,000 / $ 162,000
Sold:
€ 193,750 / $ 209,250

(incl. surcharge)
Schlafendes Mädchen (Melanie Schiele). 1908.
Pencil drawing, with watercolors.
Signed and dated in upper right. Inscribed "Besitz Hayd" by a hand other than that of the artist on the reverse. On brownish machine-made laid paper. 22 x 30.2 cm (8.6 x 11.8 in), almost the full sheet. [EH].

• Early seminal work from 1908.
• Rediscovery from the estate of Schiele's friend Karl Hayd.
• Egon Schiele renders Gustav Klimt's Danaë motif in his characteristic expressive style.
• On July 30. 2021 Jane Kallir dedicated a feed on the instagram accoount of the JKR (Jane Kallir Reaserch Institute) to this rediscovered sheet
.

Accompanied by a photo expertise from Jane kallir ; Kallir Research Institure, New York, from August 19, 2021. The work will be included into the catalog of the Kallir Research Institute with the number D 196a.

PROVENANCE: Collection Karl Hayd, Linz (presumably directly from the artist in 1908 - 1945, with the hand-written inscription "Besitz Hayd" on the reverse).
Estate Karl Hayd, Linz (presumably Hedwig Hayd, inherited in 1945).
Collection Joseph Drexel, Nuremberg (until 1976).
Estate Joseph Drexel, Nuremberg.
Private collection Southern Germany (acquired from the above in 1976).

LITERATURE: Jane Kallir, Newly discovered Schiele Drawing, in: kallirresearch, July 30, 2021 (www.instagram.com/tv/CR9cWVMFYs/?utm_medium=copy_link [last visited on September 22, 2021].

The drawing is characterized by a striking presence. With a few strokes Schiele rendered the face in a view from above, emphasizing the eyebrows, fanning out the lashes of the closed eyelids, sketching ear, nose bridge and mouth, arranging the full hair. Finally, the artist used just a little watercolor for the hair and the face, which comes to rest on the left hand‘s fingers. With sparing lines, Schiele describes the physicality of the woman clad in a dress, sideways lying on a bed – or maybe a couch - her legs drawn up and sleeping. It is more than astonishing how the young artist conveys a calm atmosphere that emanates tenderness, how he manages to do with just a few details, such as the seam of the dress or the stockings‘ riffles, and yet clearly directs the gaze to the sleeping face. What a wonderful scene the young, just 18-year-old Egon Schiele created. How balanced and skillful he spread out the body over the sheet in all its fullness.

In 1906 Schiele, supported by his art teacher Ludwig Karl Strauch, began his studies at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. In 1907, the education at the academy became too confining for him, so he literally broke out and sought contact with Gustav Klimt, who was his fatherly friend and mentor. He moved into his first own studio in Kurzbauergasse in Leopoldstadt, not far from Vienna's amusement district Prater. In the following he showed works reminiscent of Gustav Klimt. Klimt was the undisputed star of the Vienna Secession; his decorative Art Nouveau was not only celebrated by the Viennese society. In 1908 Schiele also made the acquaintance of Oskar Kokoschka. It didn‘t take long before he and the slightly older Kokoschka would change painting, above all, the line of the drawing: it became more direct, rougher and charged to the point of a gestural, provocative deformation. Both artists were obsessed with an irrepressible will to create and, as a reaction, transformed Viennese Art Nouveau into an exaggerated Expressionism.
The drawing “Schlafendes Mädchen” (Sleeping Girl) hints at the artist's imminent changes, as he not only staged his model with fine lines, but also expresses his inner feelings. In a speculative attempt, we can try to attribute the sleeping model to his close surroundings. A comparison with other drawings made during this period makes sense, as a clear connection to his older sister Melanie Schiele, who occasionally sat for him, as well as to his mother Marie and to his younger sister Gertrud, can be found.

There is still something left to say about the provenance. The Schiele expert Jane Kallir, who will include this drawing "Schlafendes Mädchen" in her catalog raisonné, deciphered a note written in Sütterlin script on the back: "Besitz Hayd" (Property Haid). Karl Hayd, Austrian painter and graphic artist, attended the Vienna Academy from 1902 to 1906 and moved to Prague for further studies. After his return in 1908, Hayd and Schiele became acquainted and exchanged drawings on several occasions. How the drawing ended up in the estate of Joseph Drexel remains uncertain; according to Kallir, their was no connection between him and Egon Schiele. [MvL]



200
Egon Schiele
Schlafendes Mädchen (Melanie Schiele), 1908.
Pencil drawing, with watercolors
Estimate:
€ 150,000 / $ 162,000
Sold:
€ 193,750 / $ 209,250

(incl. surcharge)