Schiele Women

One of my favorite artists is Egon Schiele. If Clark had let me even consider it, Booker may have been named Egon. (I did briefly consider Schiele, but it sounded so trendy.) When I was in high school my mother took me to the National Gallery and after we toured the galleries she let me buy some prints. I bought this one because the dancer's red hair reminded me of my Aunt Diane, with whom I was living at the time.

That image isn't exactly representative of Schiele's work, because, well... the model is fully clothed and her vagina isn't the central focus of the painting. He was a controversial artist during his lifetime because his images were considered somewhat pornographic. I like him because his line quality is so simple and expressive.

Fast forward a few years later to my 20th Century European Art History class at BYU. I decided to write my term paper on Egon Schiele because I was that type of BYU student. While everyone else was writing about Mary Cassatt or Salvador Dali, I decided to write about Schiele's lesser known landscapes and how they fit into his larger body of (more obscene) work. I thought I was being facetious. The professor did not agree.

I went ahead with it anyway and one night I visited the library to get research books. As I searched the catalog, I began to notice that each book about Schiele was "available at the HBLL locked case." Confused, I asked a student librarian what exactly "locked case" meant. He looked at me and lowered his voice, "Oh, you must be looking for 'Between Husband and Wife' for Brother Bott's Marriage Prep Class."

I was mortified.

First off, I couldn't believe that this guy had immediately assumed that I was enrolled in a university level class called Marriage Prep. Second, I couldn't believe that I actually went to a university that had something called a "locked case" in its library. And furthermore, that a book about sexual intimacy within Mormon marriages would warrant placement in that locked case. Yikes.

I guess the librarian saw my face turning bright red (embarrassment? rage? both?) because he quickly offered an apology and explained that "lots of students have been asking for that book lately." Of course they have.

Anyways, I eventually found that locked case and checked out several "illicit" books on Schiele. I took them home and began to draw from them. His catalog is full with simple line drawings of the female figure and each one is beautiful. My sketchbook is now full with similar drawings and if one didn't know better they might think I have an unhealthy obsession with naked women. Here is one such page.

I ended up getting a B- on the paper. I spent too much time drawing from those books and not enough time reading them. But in the end, it was definitely worth it.