Egon Schiele, 1890-1918: The midnight soul of the artist - Couverture rigide

Naked truth: Radical and all-revealing figures

With his graphic style, figural distortion, and defiance of conventional standards of beauty, Egon Schiele (1890 1918) was a pioneer of Austrian Expressionism and one of the most startling portrait painters of the twentieth century.

Mentored by Gustav Klimt, Schiele dabbled in a glittering Art Nouveau style before developing his own much more gritty and confrontational aesthetic of sharp lines, lurid shades, and mannered, elongated figures. His prolific portraits and self-portraits stunned the Viennese establishment with an unprecedented psychological and sexual intensity, favoring erotic, exposing, or unsettling poses in which he or his sitters cower on the floor, languish with legs akimbo, glower at the viewer, and thrust their genitalia into the foreground. His models are at times skeletal and sickly, at others strong and sensual.

Many contemporaries found Schiele s work to be not only ugly but morally objectionable, and in 1912, the artist was briefly imprisoned for obscenity. Today, his oeuvre is celebrated for its revolutionary approach to the human figure and for its direct and particularly fervent, almost furious, brand of draughtsmanship. This book presents key Schiele works to introduce his short but urgent career and his profound contribution to the development of modern art, which reaches right through to such contemporary talents as Tracey Emin and Jenny Saville.

About the Series:
Each book in TASCHEN s Basic Art series features:

• a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
• a concise biography
• approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

Since 1994, Creative Director Giovanni Bianco has dedicated his unique artistic vision to the worlds of fashion, luxury and entertainment. In 2001, he formed Studio 65, where together with a team of artistic minds and innovative spirits, he serves a high profile, multinational clientele. High end labels like Versace, Miu Miu and Zegna number only a few of those that rely on the Studio s expertise to communicate their brands. In addition, Giovanni Bianco and his Studio have successfully used their savoir-faire to collaborate with Madonna on numerous projects since 2004.