Egon Schiele:
Girl’s Head (mrs. Sohn) (Mädchenkopf (Frau Sohn), 1918
charcoal on paper
36 x 30 cm (14 1/8 x 11 7/8 in)
Auctioned at Christie’s in 2015
(Kallir d2228)

Rewrite of a part of the auction note:
Egon Schiele’s drawing, Mädchenkopf (Frau Sohn), was created in 1918, the last year of his career. This charcoal portrait, done in one swift motion, showcases his incredible skill. The woman’s eyes, peeking through her wild curls, seem lost in thought, gazing into her inner world. 1918 was a promising year for Schiele. He was invited by the Secession to organize their annual exhibition, where he displayed nineteen oil paintings and twenty-nine drawings. The exhibition was a huge success, establishing Schiele as Vienna’s leading artist. As a result, he received many portrait commissions, completing fourteen by October 1918.

The drawings drawings aroused the attention of clients just as strongly as the finished paintings. IN a letter Schiele wrote about his drawings: ‘… my drawings have simply no other purpose than as preparations for pictures to be painted – they are intended only for myself, and they have immense value for me because I have the “closest” conception of a work before me. Unfortunately, many of my, to me, most valuable drawings have too often been taken away from me, and so it came about that many large pictures have already had to remain incomplete in their first bud, and people are finally deluded and think that my drawings are already pictures’ (quoted in A. Comini, Egon Schiele’s Portraits, Berkeley, 1974, p. 161)