Private Collection, Salzburg
Thence by descent to the present owner

Munich, Galerie Arnoldi-Livie, Meisterzeichnungen des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts, 1972, no. 24, illustrated in the catalogue

Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele, The Complete Works, London, 1998, no. 2367, illustrated p. 625

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down and taped to the mount in two places along the upper edge. The upper and right edges are deckled. There is a pin hole which has been repaired to the upper left corner and a further pin hole to the left part of the upper edge. The sheet is time stained. There are some tape residue to the upper right corner, probably from previous mounting, and some adhesive remnants to the centre of the upper edge. There are a few very minor spots of foxing in places. There is a repaired tear (approximately 2cm long) to the upper part of the left edge and a further repaired tear (approximately 1cm long) to the centre of the upper edge. There are some small nicks in places along the extreme edges. There are two small pieces of tape to the verso along the upper edge. This work is in overall good condition.
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Liegende Frau mit hochgeschobenem Hemd (Reclining woman with raised chemise) is an elegant example of Egon Schiele’s remarkable draughtsmanship. Dating from 1918, the work exemplifies the fluidity of line that the artist achieved in the final year of his life, capturing the subject with a series of loose, confident charcoal lines. Drawings from this period are rarely coloured, instead Schiele used contoured lines to imply volume, augmenting these with what Jane Kallir describes as ‘curious little loops’ (Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele. Drawings & Watercolours, London, 2003, p. 441) that in the present work provide definition in the model’s dress.

In his later depictions of female nudes, an almost voyeuristic sense of detachment replaces the intense personal involvement that was so evident in earlier drawings and watercolours. The women seem aloof, posed in attitudes reminiscent of the conventional pornographic images that would have circulated amongst many of Schiele’s male patrons. In the present work, the model reclines impassively away from the viewer, with her gaze averted to one side; her sensuality, although undeniable, is self-contained. Discussing these late drawings, Kallir wrote: ‘Schiele’s women are, by 1917-18, thoroughly modern. Like most modern women, they own their sexuality. The nude and semi-nude models take pride in their seductive bodies and are empowered by their allure... Nor are they projections of the artist’s ego. They combine the mystery and the specificity of complete, independent human beings’ (Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele’s Women, Munich, 2012, p. 266).