Standing Male Nude with a Red Loincloth 1914

Egon Schiele made this drawing of a standing nude with red loincloth on paper with pencil and watercolor. The lines, like the pose, are edgy, broken and nervous. He catches the figure mid-motion, hands pulling and twisting. The red loincloth provides the only spot of really saturated color. It’s almost as if the figure is raw, naked, except for this one splash of fabric. It draws the eye, doesn't it? I like the way the body seems sketched, unfinished, while the cloth is more boldly colored in, almost as if its weight drags him downwards. Schiele was exploring the psychology of the body through expressive line and color. This reminds me of the work of Francis Bacon, who also twisted the human form to explore raw emotion. Both artists invite us to confront the messy, uncomfortable aspects of being human. What do you see in this piece? What does it make you feel? There is no right answer!