Sketchbook of Egon Schiele, 1912

Starting on 8th July and continuing until the end of the year 1912, Egon Schiele (1890–1918) kept a calendar in India ink in this squared notebook with a black binding. Except for the first few weeks and the last few weeks, however, the artist noted down his appointments only sporadically. Apart from address lists, timetables and cost breakdowns in the artist’s hand, the notebook also includes individual figure sketches and composition sketches. The sketches of three heads, presumably self-portraits, on folio 24 are especially noteworthy, as are some isolated drawings of monk-like figures that recall Schiele’s paintings of clergymen, such as Hermits and Agony, both dating from 1912. The pages also contain a schematically drawn roadmap of a route through Carinthia and three different floor plans, with those on folio 34 marked on the reverse with the address of his studio at Hietzinger Hauptstraße 101.

SH, 2024