Rear View of a Female Half-Nude with Cloth (Fragment of Conversion II), 1913

In 1913, Egon Schiele (1890–1918) tackles paintings of large dimensions hitherto unexplored in his oeuvre, namely the two unfinished paintings Encounter and Conversion II, which are now lost or preserved only in fragments. The Rear View of a Female Half-Nude with Cloth is a fragment of the latter monumental landscape format, which originally depicted about twelve life-size figures surrounding a central figure in a preacher’s pose. The eye witness Otto Benesch (1896–1964) describes the painting as follows: “The figures were entirely fictitious, but inspired by reality. One recognized friends, people close to Schiele: Klimt, my father, and in the features of a boy I recognized myself. They were all wearing long robes, like monks. Female nudes, viewed from the rear, appeared as well.” With regard to style and motif, the influence of Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918) is clearly discernible in the painting, or rather in its preserved fragments. Schiele’s allegorical works from 1912 and 1913 are generally characterized by a recourse to symbolist compositions.

VG, 2022