Grete Wolf 1913

Egon Schiele made this drawing of Grete Wolf with charcoal, probably in one sitting. The marks are so direct! You know, as a painter, I have to say that charcoal is very forgiving—you can make so many changes, like erasures, and build up the marks to be really dense. I imagine Schiele shifting and adjusting, really feeling his way around the page. I like how Wolf's hair is described with these intense dark scribbles, so full of restless energy. And then her face is barely there, just a few lines to suggest a gaze. It reminds me that painting, like drawing, is about constantly asking questions, not just giving answers. Schiele was always pushing boundaries, and you can see him working out his ideas right here on the paper. What would it have been like to watch him draw? I wonder if he knew how much other artists would still be learning from him 100 years later? The conversation never stops.