Edith Schiele with Striped Dress and Cigarette, c. 1915

In most of the depictions that Egon Schiele (1890–1918) created of his wife Edith, she appears a little shy and rather introverted, sometimes with a sad or pensive expression, as seen in Edith Schiele in a Striped Dress, Seated. In this photograph, taken around 1915 at Schiele’s studio, Edith Schiele presents herself in a very different manner, posing self-confidently and gazing slightly downwards at the observers with a challenging expression, a cigarette dangling from the left corner of her mouth. Her striped dress with its big pattern is striking: It has been identified as a Wiener Werkstätte dress made from the fabric Montenegro designed by Ugo Zovetti (1879–1974). Friederike Maria Beer (1891–1980) wore this dress when Schiele created a life-sized portrait of her in 1914. Even though the two women were not acquainted, Beer subsequently gave the dress to Schiele’s girlfriend Wally Neuzil (1894–1917), who liked it very much. After Neuzil’s relationship with Egon Schiele ended, the dress seems to have gone to Edith.

KJ, 2023