PROPERTY FROM THE BUNZL FAMILY COLLECTION
Lot 6
EGON SCHIELE(1890-1918)Offiziersporträt
Amended
16 November 2022, 16:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £88,500 inc. premium
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EGON SCHIELE (1890-1918)
Offiziersporträt
signed and dated 'Egon Schiele 1918' (lower right)
coloured pencil and pencil on paper
29.9 x 23.9cm (11 3/4 x 9 7/16in).
Executed in 1918
signed and dated 'Egon Schiele 1918' (lower right)
coloured pencil and pencil on paper
29.9 x 23.9cm (11 3/4 x 9 7/16in).
Executed in 1918
Footnotes
Provenance
Herbert J. Kayden Collection, Israel and New York (acquired by May 1975).
Private collection, London (acquired from the above circa 1976).
Thence by descent to the present owners.
Literature
J. Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works, 1998, no. 2432 (illustrated p. 632).
Artists and intellectuals in Austria-Hungary were initially shielded from the crashing conflict of the First World War, though, as the bloody battles raged on, this did not last. Schiele was conscripted three days after his wedding.
Due to his weak heart and excellent handwriting, Schiele performed a number of administrative roles during the war, behind the front lines either completing menial roles, guarding prisoners or working at various depots. Eventually, in January 1917 under the sponsorship of the sympathetic young officer, Karl Grünwald, Schiele was transferred to the Military Supply Depot in Vienna, where he could fully reignite his artistic vocation. Here he was put to work documenting the supply depots by his commanding officer, Hans Rosé. After the war Grünwald went on to become a friend, model and patron of Schiele's, acquiring a masterwork, Welke Sonnenblumen (Herbstsonne II), which would later be restituted to his heirs after remaining lost for 68 years and go on to make £11,678,000 at auction in 2006.
Executed in 1918, perhaps after April when he was transferred to the Army Museum and his recent success at the Vienna Secession was still fresh, Offiziersporträt depicts one of Schiele's officers with whom he had served; they even posed for a photograph together. The work is possibly a commission from the officer, as Schiele would often make sketches of his comrades. The sheet size of the present work and the coloured pencil used in the medium can perhaps be attributed to the difficulties faced during his wartime production, where supplies were often lacking.
Saleroom notices
Please note, as per the note in Jane Kallir's catalogue raisonné, there have been historic questions with regards to this work due to the atypical medium, paper and size. However, as Kallir explains, this can be explained by the vagaries of wartime and the style and signature are consistent with works from this period.
