Egon Schiele (1890-1918) - along with Oskar Kokoschka - is the painter who had the most long-lasting influence on the Vienna art scene after the great era of Klimt came to a close. After a short flirtation with Klimt€s style, Schiele soon questioned the aesthetic orientation to the beautiful surface of the Viennese Art Nouveau with his rough and not easily accessible paintings.

Many contemporaries found Schiele€s expressive nudes and self-portraits, with their strange movements and morbid colours, to be ugly and even morally objectionable--criticism which culminated in criminalizing the painter as €obscene€ and resulted in 1912 in an indictment and short jail sentence. However, not even his harshest critics could dispute the artist€s extraordinary drawing talent.

 

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 colour illustrations with explanatory captions