Schiele MS

Hindering the artist is a crime, wrote Egon Schiele in 1912. At the time he was in prison for disseminating immoral drawings. Throughout his work the note of defiance, provocation and rebellion was sounded.PBThis is another welcome addition to Taschens 25th Anniversary Series of large, hardcover collections. You get excellent reproductions of many of Egon Schieles finest work along with Wolfgang Georg Fischers expert commentary. Besides the works themselves, I found the most valuable part of the book to be the historical and biographical information. Fischer gives the necessary perspective with which to view Schieles sometimes difficult work without being excessively wordy or academic. I love academic writing as much as anyone, but I think the intended audience here is not going to want to wade through pages of theoretical discourse. In addition to the paintings, there are some photographs of Schiele, his family, and his colleagues. After looking at his numerous self-portraits and (especially) the paintings of his wife, its fascinating to see photographs of them in a casual context. Schieles style may not appeal to everyone, but this book is an excellent place to begin your appreciation.