Sheet with Figure Studies and Composition Sketches, undated

Two figures are kneeling cheek to cheek; the person to the right, who seems to be female, is hugging a man who is stretching out his arm to the far right. Bold lines at the center of the composition sketch possibly suggest that the artist may have also considered depicting the couple in a standing position. The sketch may be connected to the 1912 painting “Caress” (Cardinal and Nun) or to the 1914 work Death and Maiden (Man and Girl) (Belvedere, Vienna). The reverse of the sketch shows two drafts with standing and kneeling figures. The posture of the central figure in the foreground recalls the fully executed male figure gazing out of the picture in the 1913 painting Encounter, whose current location is unknown. The historic photograph Egon Schiele in Front of His Lost Painting “Encounter”, dating from 1913, in which Egon Schiele strikes a pose next to the painting, thus becoming part of the presentation, documents this lost, life-sized work of art.

KJ, 2024