Porträtstudie Anton Peschka 1991

Curator: I’m immediately drawn to the intensity of the gaze. It’s as though the sitter is peering directly into your soul. Editor: Indeed. What we have here is Egon Schiele's 1991 pencil drawing, "Porträtstudie Anton Peschka". As you may notice, the Expressionist piece captures a likeness of Anton Peschka. Curator: 1991? You mean... the artwork’s creation date? It feels remarkably fresh for something over thirty years old. I would have expected a more textured support for such a raw emotional landscape. I’d hazard a guess and say that the artist really connected with the figure. The sitter is emanating nervous vitality... You feel it too, right? It vibrates, ever so slightly, like looking at a coiled spring. Editor: It's vital to note Schiele’s technique here. Observe how he constructs the form using very little shading but utilizes layering and direction of the pencil strokes to create depth. Notice how the hair is rendered: with dark scribbles it almost appears as its own mass, an unkept bird's nest crowning the sitter. The very minimal treatment to the subject’s beard directs our eye to the detailed realism around his eyes. I agree; the gaze is really the defining part of this image. Curator: Absolutely, that detailed precision draws you into the window of the soul: the eyes! What's extraordinary is how economic the marks are! Editor: A fitting testament to Schiele’s capability and an evocative example of portraiture in the Expressionist style. Curator: What do you take away from it all, then, ultimately? To what would you draw our listeners’ attentions before we depart this area? Editor: Well, for me, it's about feeling seen, isn't it? Really acknowledging another human, capturing their soul within some quick pencil strokes and making that last, well beyond their natural lives... Curator: For me, I would offer: Line. See how with careful direction and manipulation a simple sketch can convey such raw depth, the artist is almost cutting through our own perceptions by just using pencil.