Klimt/Schiele: Drawings from the Albertina Museum, Vienna
Beautiful exhibition at the Royal Academy of works on paper by Klimt and Schiele from the
early 20th century.
There were some
stunning drawings in this show which were nicely hung and described. I thought
the only shame was that it felt like a competition between the two artists won
by Schiele as his works were more visceral. However it was clear that the two
artists used drawing in different ways and Klimt’s, on the whole, were
preparatory drawings for paintings and frescos whereas more of Schiele’s were
finished works in their own right and therefore making a more purposeful
statement.
All the works
were a lovely study of a particular time and place and gave a real sense of the
people and life in Vienna in the years before the First World War. I loved
Klimt’s drawings for his well-known portraits which were very freely drawn
catching the stance and clothing of the sitters rather than facial likenesses.
The series of self-portraits by Schiele not only gave a sense of how he viewed
himself but also of an artist using his own body to try out poses and emotional
representations. I didn’t find them quite as introspective as I have when seeing
them in the past.
I liked the
section bringing together some of Klimt’s studies for his Beethoven Frieze and
the frescos for the university on philosophy, medicine and jurisprudence. It
would have been nice to have a reproduction of the finished works to compare
the studies to. The erotic section at the end reflected the fact that Freud’s
writing on sexuality had appeared in 1905 however they made me think more of
his grandson Lucien in their use of colours to represent flesh.
Favourite works in
the show included Schiele’s picture of a Cellist minus the cello which made for
an interesting pose and oddly I loved his pictures of Chrysanthemums painted in
simple swirls and so delicate.
Closes on 3
February 2019.
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