#expressionist art

WITOLD WOJTKIEWICZ

In 1910 Egon Schiele painted a portrait that was in many ways decisive for his career: for one, because it is a major work of his transitory phase when he left behind Jugenstil and for a second it gave expression to an important friendship. The sitter was Dr. Erwin von Graff, a young physician, who had assisted with the birth of Schiele’s model Liliana Amon’s daughter. As a token of gratitude Schiele painted Graff. The two quickly became friends and Graff, then working at the Second University Women’s Hospital, opened the doors of the clinic to Schiele: the artist was deeply fascinated by the human body and explored its vulnerability and the extremes of life and death. Through Graff Schiele received access to new borns, pregnant women and new mothers and drew them with great expressiveness and emotional intensity.

Up until May 4 the Neue Galerie in New York devotes a comprehensive exhibition to Schiele’s portrait painting and the drawings he created during the years of 1910 to 1912: „Egon Schiele: Portrait of Dr. Erwin von Graff“, curated by Renée Price and Janis Staggs, is accompanied by the eponymous catalogue authored by Elisabeth Dutz. Dutz, Chief Curator of the Graphic Art Collection at the Albertina Museum in Vienna, based on Von Graff’s diary as well as new archival material sheds light on the relationship between the physician and Schiele, the artist’s artistic leap forward and the lives of the protagonists of this decisive period in Schiele’s career. Von Graff personally supported the starving artist and was one of the first to recognize Schiele’s artistic potential. Consequently, he also started collecting his works and up until the very end remained close to him: when Schiele caught the flu during the global pandemic of 1918, Von Graff looked after him and with an unidentified injection eased his suffering in his final hours. On October 31, 1918 Schiele passed away, only three days after his six months’ pregnant wife Edith.

Series: The Ends

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Series: The Ends

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Series: The Ends

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