Woman Buttoning Her Shoes 1915

Egon Schiele made this drawing of a woman buttoning her shoes with graphite on paper. The lines feel raw, edgy and exposed like the drawing itself is undressing before our eyes. I wonder what Schiele was thinking as he sketched? Was he quick and gestural or slow and precise? Did the model shift? Did he start with the head and move down, or begin with the shoe itself? The jagged, nervous lines describing the leg and the back of the dress create a feeling of tension, and an unsettling sense of imbalance. But the hands are drawn with delicacy. This drawing makes me think of other drawings by artists like Gustav Klimt, Alice Neel, or Tracey Emin. The raw, vulnerable mark-making feels timeless, almost like Schiele is in conversation with other artists, across time. It reminds us that drawing, like painting, is a process of inquiry, a constant exploration of form, feeling, and the human condition.