Thomas Ammann Fine Art, Zurich

Sale: Sotheby's, New York, May 16, 1984, lot 144

Acquired at the above sale by A. Alfred Taubman

Paris, Galerie Octave Negru, Egon Schiele: Dessins et Aquarelles, 1976, no. 13, illustrated in the catalogue

Berlin, Galerie Pels-Leusden, Europaische Meisterzeichnungen und Aquarelle (1878-1978), 1978-79, no. 160, illustrated in the catalogue

New York, Gagosian Gallery, Egon Schiele: Nudes, 1994, no. 13, illustrated in the catalogue

Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works, New York, 1990, no. D.877, illustrated p. 447

Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works, New York, 1998, no. D.877, illustrated p. 447

Please contact the Impressionist and Modern Art Department at (212) 606-7360 for the condition report for this lot.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Sitzendes Mädchen mit erhobenem Bein, dating from 1911, depicts one of the numerous child models Schiele used for his works around this time. The girl is wearing a dark-blue dress that is slightly lifted showing her underskirt with crimson edges. Her expressive facial features are characteristic of the artist’s avant-garde style and his rendering of the human visage. His friend, the artist Albert Paris von Gütersloh, recalled: "… there were always two or three smaller or larger girls in [Schiele’s] studio; girls from the neighbourhood, from the street, …, some ugly, some attractive, some washed, but also some unwashed. … they slept, …combed their closely cropped or tangled hair, pulled their skirts down or up, tied or untied their shoelaces. They feared nothing from the paper that lay next to Schiele on the sofa, and the young man was always playing with the pencil or the brush. … Suddenly, and although he didn’t appear to have been paying attention at all, he would say very softly … ‘stop!’. And now, as if under the spell of his magic, they froze as they were – lying, standing, kneeling, relaxing, tying or untying, pulling down or up, combing themselves or scratching themselves — as though they had been banished to timelessness or covered with lava, and then, in a twinkling, brought back to life" (quoted in J. Kallir, Egon Schiele. Life and Work, New York, 2003, p. 75).