Sale: 590 / Evening Sale, June 06. 2025 in Munich 
Lot 125000216
Lot 125000216 
Raumbeispiel
125000216
Egon Schiele
Sitzender Knabe, Draufsicht, 1918.
Chalk drawing
Estimate:
€ 100,000 - 150,000
$ 113,000 - 169,500
Information on buyer's premium, taxation and resale right compensation will be available four weeks before the auction.
Sitzender Knabe, Draufsicht. 1918.
Chalk drawing.
Signed and dated in the lower right. 30 x 46.5 cm (11.8 x 18.3 in), nearly the full sheet.
[KA].
• Masterfully executed drawing from the last year of the prematurely deceased artist's life.
• Made in the key year 1918: Schiele's artistic significance is evident in his sold-out exhibition at the Vienna Secession in March.
• Schiele opens up a new perspective on portraiture with this unconventional bird's-eye view.
• Significant provenance: formerly part of the renowned Serge Sabarsky Collection, New York, and in private hands for over 40 years.
• For the first time on the international auction market (source: artprice.com).
• Comparable drawings from this creative period can be found in important museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Albertina, Vienna.
We are grateful to Jane Kallir, Kallir Research Institute, New York, for her kind expert advice.
PROVENANCE: Private collection, Germany.
Galerie Ilse Schweinsteiger, Munich (1982).
Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York (with a label on the reverse of the frame).
Private collection, USA (acquired from the above in 1983, in family ownership since).
EXHIBITION: Expressionisten 2. Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Ölbilder, Galerie Ilse Schweinsteiger, Munich, winter of 1982, cat. no. 74 (illustrated).
LITERATURE: Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele. The Complete Works. Including a Biography and a Catalogue Raisonné, New York 1990, cat. no. 2174 (illustrated in b/w).
Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele. The Complete Works. Including a Biography and a Catalogue Raisonné, Expanded Edition, New York 1998, cat. no. D 2174 (illustrated in b/w).
Chalk drawing.
Signed and dated in the lower right. 30 x 46.5 cm (11.8 x 18.3 in), nearly the full sheet.
[KA].
• Masterfully executed drawing from the last year of the prematurely deceased artist's life.
• Made in the key year 1918: Schiele's artistic significance is evident in his sold-out exhibition at the Vienna Secession in March.
• Schiele opens up a new perspective on portraiture with this unconventional bird's-eye view.
• Significant provenance: formerly part of the renowned Serge Sabarsky Collection, New York, and in private hands for over 40 years.
• For the first time on the international auction market (source: artprice.com).
• Comparable drawings from this creative period can be found in important museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Albertina, Vienna.
We are grateful to Jane Kallir, Kallir Research Institute, New York, for her kind expert advice.
PROVENANCE: Private collection, Germany.
Galerie Ilse Schweinsteiger, Munich (1982).
Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York (with a label on the reverse of the frame).
Private collection, USA (acquired from the above in 1983, in family ownership since).
EXHIBITION: Expressionisten 2. Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Ölbilder, Galerie Ilse Schweinsteiger, Munich, winter of 1982, cat. no. 74 (illustrated).
LITERATURE: Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele. The Complete Works. Including a Biography and a Catalogue Raisonné, New York 1990, cat. no. 2174 (illustrated in b/w).
Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele. The Complete Works. Including a Biography and a Catalogue Raisonné, Expanded Edition, New York 1998, cat. no. D 2174 (illustrated in b/w).
Characterized by its provocative intensity, emotional, subjective nature, and distinctive expressionist style, Egon Schiele created an oeuvre during a short life lasting only 28 years, leaving an indelible mark on modern art. The young artist soon proved to be a rebel, not only through his groundbreaking visual language but also in the social context of a time in Vienna that was determined by political uncertainty, economic instability, and moral rigidity. His encounter with Gustav Klimt and Viennese Modernism marked a decisive turning point for Schiele: he left the academy. He developed a bold new artistic style that addressed existential themes such as identity, sexuality, and psychological depth with brutal honesty.
The drawing “Seated Boy, from above” was created in 1918, the last year of his tragically short life. The works from this late phase of his career show an artist putting increasing emphasis on portraiture – creating both works in an openly provocative manner that earned him the hostility of Austria's puritanical society and more tranquil, contemplative studies such as the present drawing. From a bird's eye view, Schiele's boy sits casually cross-legged, his head slightly propped up in his hand, his gaze directed forward, and his body shown in the somewhat distorted posture typical of Schiele. The unusual perspective lends the scene a quiet intimacy: the viewer takes on an observant, albeit distant position – and yet, the feeling of closeness prevails. Schiele gets the maximum expression while keeping things simple: clear lines, just a few details, and minimal shading. Despite the formal clarity, the figure shows a deep psychological complexity. The boy seems vulnerable yet present as if he's been captured in a moment of reflection. The drawing impressively illustrates how far Schiele had moved away from merely imitating his models. By this point, he had developed a visual language that finds expression in our work in the childlike innocence and vulnerability. The drawing thus becomes a testimony to a universal human experience—and the legacy of an artist who, like few others, made the emotional life of his time visible. [KA]
The drawing “Seated Boy, from above” was created in 1918, the last year of his tragically short life. The works from this late phase of his career show an artist putting increasing emphasis on portraiture – creating both works in an openly provocative manner that earned him the hostility of Austria's puritanical society and more tranquil, contemplative studies such as the present drawing. From a bird's eye view, Schiele's boy sits casually cross-legged, his head slightly propped up in his hand, his gaze directed forward, and his body shown in the somewhat distorted posture typical of Schiele. The unusual perspective lends the scene a quiet intimacy: the viewer takes on an observant, albeit distant position – and yet, the feeling of closeness prevails. Schiele gets the maximum expression while keeping things simple: clear lines, just a few details, and minimal shading. Despite the formal clarity, the figure shows a deep psychological complexity. The boy seems vulnerable yet present as if he's been captured in a moment of reflection. The drawing impressively illustrates how far Schiele had moved away from merely imitating his models. By this point, he had developed a visual language that finds expression in our work in the childlike innocence and vulnerability. The drawing thus becomes a testimony to a universal human experience—and the legacy of an artist who, like few others, made the emotional life of his time visible. [KA]
125000216
Egon Schiele
Sitzender Knabe, Draufsicht, 1918.
Chalk drawing
Estimate:
€ 100,000 - 150,000
$ 113,000 - 169,500
Information on buyer's premium, taxation and resale right compensation will be available four weeks before the auction.
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