Curator, Starr Figura: This is a very dramatic watercolor by Egon Schiele, titled Girl With Black Hair from 1911. Her hair is billowing all about her, and its blackness, and its forms are echoed by her dark skirt, which is bunched up around her waist so that we can see her genitals—and yet she looks extremely unashamed, looking back directly at us.
Schiele couldn't afford professional models so he would just invite young, working class girls into the studio to model for him. Sometimes they were prostitutes. It's thought that he would have them lie down, say on a couch, and then he would climb up on a ladder or something like that, so he could look down at them, from above, and that would produce a sort of unusual, slightly jarring angle. He had a very particular kind of line. It's taut and tense and often it gives his works a very pronounced, dramatic kind of silhouette. It also contributes to the psychological tension of the portrayal.
Schiele often got in trouble for the sexual nature of his works, and also for his rather licentious lifestyle. He was actually brought up on charges of immorality, and the judge burned one of his drawings in the court.
Director, Glenn Lowry: The Austrian Expressionists were not a cohesive group. In fact, its two best-known practitioners were rivals. To learn more, press 6040.