According to contemporary witnesses, the dancer Moa Mandu, about whom not many specifics are known except for her Bosnian origins, came in contact with Egon Schiele (1890—1918) through Erwin Osen (1891—1970). This led to a whole series of portraits of the dancer, whom Schiele, unlike many of his models, identified by name with the designation “MOA,” written in capitals next to the figure. One of the best of these portraits in terms of composition and coloring is in the collection of the Leopold Museum today. In cloisonné-like abstraction, the body of the dress extends across almost the entire height of the picture space. The pent-up, literally veiled expression of the body finally erupts with full force through the subject’s eyes. In his memoir of Schiele,
Erinnerungen an Egon Schiele, Arthur Roessler (1877—1955) uses many attributes to describe the “almost blank, large, jet-black eyes, wistfully gleaming from under brown-blue shaded, long-lashed, and overly heavy eyelids” of Osen’s companion as the central aspect of her physical appearance – an assessment impressively confirmed by Schiele in his portrait culminating in the subject’s gaze.
VG, 2021
