Egon Schiele with Toy Horse, in the Background the Painting Houses by the Sea, 1914, 1914

Egon Schiele’s (1890–1918) childlike enjoyment of playing and experimenting was a major part of his personality. A diverse collection of folkloristic and exotic objects and toys has survived among his estate. These knickknacks were of purely personal importance to the artist and at the same time also significant to his art. Rather than collecting objects of value, he compiled small, unimportant things, whose shape and color appealed to his artistic sensitivity: small, painted children’s playthings, rural wooden sculptures and reverse glass paintings, colorful embroideries, headscarves, and the like. This 1914 photograph, taken by Anton Josef Trčka (1893–1940), shows Schiele posing with his characteristic expressive gestures and facial expressions, and holding a carved toy horse (see: Toy Horse, Part of Schiele’s Collection of Folk Art, 19th Century) in front of his painting Houses by the Sea (Row of Houses). The plain, sparsely painted wooden horse with only three legs was likely one of Schiele’s most treasured objects from his collection. He not only proudly presented it in this photograph, thus illustrating how much he valued it, but he also immortalized this little toy several times in his works. The best known example is Schiele’s 1914 oil painting of his desk: Still Life with Books (The Artist’s Desk).

KJ, 2024