Russian Prisoner of War (Grigori Kladjishuli) 1916

Egon Schiele's 'Russian Prisoner of War,' made with pencil and watercolor, is a fragile encounter. The sepia of the paper is all we need to be drawn into the image. Schiele's lines are almost like exposed nerves, all scratchy and immediate. I can imagine Schiele hunched over his paper, trying to get at something true. He may have felt sympathy, maybe even horror, at the reality of war embodied in this man. The prisoner's weary eyes seem to be saying, 'What now?' I wonder if he has any idea he’s becoming part of art history, even as his world is falling apart. This drawing isn't just about capturing a likeness; it's about searching for something deeper. The raw, searching lines remind me of other artists like Käthe Kollwitz, who similarly used drawing to express the weight of human suffering. Art is always a conversation, isn't it?