Woman in Black Stockings 1913

Egon Schiele made this drawing of a woman in black stockings with ink and watercolour, and the year is unknown. I can imagine him leaning over, staring intently at his model, trying to capture that essence of the body with a few lines. Schiele’s work is all about line; it’s nervous and raw. The stockings themselves are like pools of dark matter, anchoring the composition while still retaining a sense of unease. They are bold, confident, and kind of shocking, and the rest of the figure seems to emerge from them. I often think of line as touch. There is something incredibly intimate about the process of drawing. You watch Schiele’s marks so delicately trace around her body and her flirty gaze. You can feel his energy and the way he's seeing her in that moment. It's not just about what she looks like, but also about how he feels when looking at her. Painters have been doing this for centuries - looking at people and trying to capture them with their lines, brushes and colours. It's an ongoing conversation.