A good study of a lesser known Schiele

books:


	• Egon Schiele: Landscapes Rudolf Leopold, Egon Schiele Prestel Publishing, 2004 - 206 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

An absolute treasure

Of all the Schiele monographs I own, this is my favourite one. I love Schiele's drawings and watercolors, I can get lost in them, mesmerized by a single casual line that defines a thigh or an arm; I love his portraits, his oils... but most of all I love his townscapes and landscapes, so this book as an absolute treasure.
Great quality reproductions, wonderful b/w photographs of places/towns/buildings he painted (taken from the same perspective as they appear in his paintings).
Highly recommended.

Well illustrated and very informative

A chronological presentation of Egon Shielle's landscape paintings, commencing with works produced when he was only sixteen. Each painting is reproduced in colour on one page with brief informative explanatory notes on the facing page, and invariably with additional photographs usually of the actual scene depicted in the painting, and occasionally Shielle's own preliminary sketches. The book concludes with a brief illustrated biography, and bibliography. A most informative and beautifully illustrated publication with text kept to a minimum and free from pompous waffle.

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A good study of a lesser known Schiele

This book is centered on a hitherto less well-known aspect of Egon Schiele's art, i.e. his landscapes. The catalogue for a 2004 exhibition held at the Leopold Museum in Vienna (the largest Schiele collection in the world), it was written by Rudolph Leopold himself (the founder of the museum and largest Schiele collector in the world). It lists most of the landscapes painted by Schiele chronologically, whether painting or drawing, and describes each of them very thoroughly. Some works which at the time (2004) were believed lost (a magnificent Krumau landscape and a beautiful sunflower painting) have since then reappeared on the art market and made headlines as they sold for record prices.

The illustrations are of a good quality, even though not as perfect as the ones that grace another available book on the same subject, "Egon Schiele's landscapes, between ruin and renewal" which is a more literary and less purely factual work.

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THE Schiele Landscape book to own

The credit for the first notion of publishing a book strictly devoted to Schiele's landscapes (and cityscapes) deservedly goes to Kimberly A. Smith/Yale University Press. One might say that it was a bit sneaky of Rudolf Leopold & the Leopold Museum, after having been interviewed and providing reproductions for said effort to in the same year mount this comprehensive exhibition and publish this sumptuous catalogue.

I'm not saying that, because the reproductions are better and the text doesn't suffer from the pompousnous of Deconstructionism. This is a gorgeous book. As well, some of the paintings are paired with period photos/postcards of the actual scenes Schiele painted. Leopold vastly expounded upon this conceit by researching and seeking out with camera a large number of photographs of Schiele's motifs. It's hugely interesting to see how little certain corners of Austria have changed in nearly a hundred years.

Of particularly poignant, and instructive, note, is the volume's side-by-side reproduction of Schiele's "Autumn Trees I" of 1911, held in a private collection. The original, as widely reproduced--indeed in the Smith/Yale book, albeit poorly--has been ruined by a "restorer" who decided that the pink striations in the sky had been added by a later hand.

If you're interested in Schiele's landscapes, buy this book. Buy this book and turn to pages 84-5 and weep with me.

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Houses and Fields

A fine introduction to the extraordinary art of an Austrian painter doomed to a short but productive life.

Professor Rudolf Leopold is a master of explaining the style of Egon Schiele, while revealing to the reader the physical origin of the specific impulse behind many of Schiele's land- and cityscapes.

I urge those with any interest in modern art to buy this book, and, if at all possible, visit the originals in the great museums of Vienna, especially the Leopold.

reviews: page 1, 2

This visually stunning collection of landscape paintings and drawings by Egon Schiele brings to light a little-known aspect of this famous painter's oeuvre, proving that his mastery extends beyond his radical renditions of the human figure and revealing themes that appeared throughout his life's work. While Schiele is largely revered for his provocative paintings of women, these works were just one aspect of his artistic expression. Schiele's landscapes represent an important facet of his career and are a valuable contribution to the school of European nature painting.

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