Sitting Woman 1918

Egon Schiele made this drawing of a seated woman with ink on paper, we don’t know exactly when. The marks feel quick, almost nervous—it makes me wonder what was going through Schiele's head, the pressure, or desire, to get the essence of this figure down with as few lines as possible. The color of the paper is a warm tan, but the lines are dark and unforgiving, as they map out this woman’s shape and expression. I can imagine Schiele’s hand moving quickly across the page, the ink bleeding slightly into the paper. He probably knew he was walking a fine line between insight and just plain being rude, but he went there anyway. I think about other artists, like Alice Neel, who also pushed the boundaries of portraiture, finding ways to express complex emotions through line and form. In the end, this drawing invites us to consider the many ways of seeing and representing the human form. It reminds me that art is about exploration and exchange, a constant dialogue across time and space.