Sketchbook, 1915 - 1916

Sketchbooks provide highly personal evidence of an artist’s creative process. Artists usually carry them for weeks or months, making sure they are always at hand to record ideas, quick sketches and notes. According to the stamp on the inside cover, this personal sketchbook of Egon Schiele (1890–1918) was acquired at the stationery store of Josef Arazym at Hietzinger Hauptstraße 46, not far from the artist’s studio at the time. It contains notes and a few sketches, especially of an embracing pair of lovers, as well as lists of artworks by Schiele and his artist friends Felix Albrecht Harta (1884–1967), Johannes Fischer (1888–1955), Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) and Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel (1881–1965). These lists of works were presumably compiled in preparation for exhibitions. Schiele repeatedly initiated and curated exhibition projects.

KJ, 2024