82.155 Nude (akt)

1912

Lithograph, 17 3/4 x 15 3/4" (45 x 40 cm)

Signed, ll: Egon/Schiele/1912; in stone lr: Egon Schiele/1912

Part of the portfolio 15 Original-zeichnungen, produced by SEMA, Nr. 170 of 250

.

82.155 Nude (akt)

1912

Lithograph, 17 3/4 x 15 3/4" (45 x 40 cm)

Signed, ll: Egon/Schiele/1912; in stone lr: Egon Schiele/1912

Part of the portfolio 15 Original-zeichnungen, produced by SEMA, Nr. 170 of 250

Nude (Akt) 1912

Despite his strength as a draughtsman, Schiele produced few prints; this lithograph is one of only five that he made in his entire career. According to Kallir, “Schiele felt that he could achieve equal results more simply with pencil and paper.” The few prints that he did create were either commissions or contributions to group efforts.

This nude self-portrait, for example, resulted from his membership in the Munich artists’ group SEMA. The production of a portfolio of prints by several artists was a popular way to present their aesthetic ambitions to a larger audience of admiring patrons. As one of the members participating in the production of the portfolio, Schiele sent two drawings to the editor in Munich. The editor had one of them transferred to the lithograph stone. Schiele, then did not participate in the technical process of producing the lithograph. Evident here is Schiele’s characteristically angular style, as well as his preoccupation with a graphic depiction of himself as a sexual being.