Portrait of Karl Maylander 1917

This is Egon Schiele’s portrait of Karl Maylander, drawn with pen and some watercolor, but when, who knows? I love the casual quality, as if Schiele just started sketching and couldn’t stop. The colors are so subtle, almost not there, but that’s part of what gives it its charm. It’s mostly about the line, the way he captures a likeness with just a few strokes. Look at the hands, how they're just sort of floating there, like ghostly afterthoughts, but they totally work. And the way the jacket just dissolves into the paper, unfinished, but somehow complete. Schiele always reminds me of Klimt, another Viennese artist who was obsessed with the human figure. But where Klimt was all about the glitz and glamour, Schiele was more interested in the raw, vulnerable truth of the body. It's this honesty that makes Schiele's work so compelling, so unforgettable. It's like he's saying, "Here I am, flaws and all."