| Abstract: | "Egon Schiele is best known for his striking, sometimes emotionally charged portraits, yet landscapes were of critical importance in his oeuvre. Although Schiele generally treated his depictions of plants, vistas, and townscapes as a separate genre from his portraits and did not include people in such scenes, he viewed landscapes as among his most important paintings, and imbued them with existential concerns, such as life, birth, death, and suffering. Biographical elements were a frequent aspect in Schiele's landscapes, and he focused ample attention on the area around Vienna, including towns that were of personal significance to him, especially Klosterneuburg, where he lived in his youth and had his first exhibition; Krumau (Český Krumlov), his mother's birthplace and the subject of his co-called Dead City series; Neulengbach, where he was arrested and briefly imprisoned; and Tulln, his birthplace. He also painted various scenes of the picturesque town of Stein an der Donau, among other locales in the region around Vienna. The essays in this volume consider various aspects of Schiele's work, including the relationship among his landscapes, townscapes, and portraiture. Additional texts consider the anthropological aspects of his landscapes, his impassioned reflections on nature in his correspondence and poetry, and the impact of politics and propaganda on his work"-- Book jacket. |
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