Customer Reviews

Egon Schiele Landscapes

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Egon Schiele lived for only a brief period of time and yet in that lifetime he, more than any other artist of the fin de siecle, made visual the probings of the human psyche as explored by Sigmund Freud. His inumerable portraits of young nude girls, his insistence on the viability of human sensual responses, and his lack of temerity in producing many self-portraits nude and aroused made him a sensation in his time and now has placed him in the echelon of the most collectable artists from the last century.

But equally important to both Schiele and to the public who knew little of his full output are his avante garde landscapes. This book, well written by Rudolf Leopold, serves to bring appreciation to these magnificent landscapes. Leopold has the graciousness to include photographs of the areas in and around where Schiele lived, views which Schiele painted repeatedly but never with the same vantage or color effects. Whether the views are vast horizons made puzzle-like with his drawing/painting technique, flowers flattened in perspective to emphasize design, or photo-like fragments of streets and houses, they are all equally successful in proving that Schiele was a fine draughtsman and inventive colorist.

This book is large in format that serves to lay the framework for the excellent color reproductions. Some art books are ones that, once read, are relegated to the coffee table. EGON SCHIELE: LANDSCAPES is a beautiful volume that begs for repeated readings and viewings. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, April 05

Of all the Schiele monographs I own, this is my favourite one. I love Schiele's drawings and watercolors, I can get lost in them, mesmerized by a single casual line that defines a thigh or an arm; I love his portraits, his oils... but most of all I love his townscapes and landscapes, so this book as an absolute treasure.
Great quality reproductions, wonderful b/w photographs of places/towns/buildings he painted (taken from the same perspective as they appear in his paintings).
Highly recommended.

The credit for the first notion of publishing a book strictly devoted to Schiele's landscapes (and cityscapes) deservedly goes to Kimberly A. Smith/Yale University Press. One might say that it was a bit sneaky of Rudolf Leopold & the Leopold Museum, after having been interviewed and providing reproductions for said effort to in the same year mount this comprehensive exhibition and publish this sumptuous catalogue.

I'm not saying that, because the reproductions are better and the text doesn't suffer from the pompousnous of Deconstructionism. This is a gorgeous book. As well, some of the paintings are paired with period photos/postcards of the actual scenes Schiele painted. Leopold vastly expounded upon this conceit by researching and seeking out with camera a large number of photographs of Schiele's motifs. It's hugely interesting to see how little certain corners of Austria have changed in nearly a hundred years.

Of particularly poignant, and instructive, note, is the volume's side-by-side reproduction of Schiele's "Autumn Trees I" of 1911, held in a private collection. The original, as widely reproduced--indeed in the Smith/Yale book, albeit poorly--has been ruined by a "restorer" who decided that the pink striations in the sky had been added by a later hand.

If you're interested in Schiele's landscapes, buy this book. Buy this book and turn to pages 84-5 and weep with me.

A chronological presentation of Egon Shielle's landscape paintings, commencing with works produced when he was only sixteen. Each painting is reproduced in colour on one page with brief informative explanatory notes on the facing page, and invariably with additional photographs usually of the actual scene depicted in the painting, and occasionally Shielle's own preliminary sketches. The book concludes with a brief illustrated biography, and bibliography. A most informative and beautifully illustrated publication with text kept to a minimum and free from pompous waffle.

This book is centered on a hitherto less well-known aspect of Egon Schiele's art, i.e. his landscapes. The catalogue for a 2004 exhibition held at the Leopold Museum in Vienna (the largest Schiele collection in the world), it was written by Rudolph Leopold himself (the founder of the museum and largest Schiele collector in the world). It lists most of the landscapes painted by Schiele chronologically, whether painting or drawing, and describes each of them very thoroughly. Some works which at the time (2004) were believed lost (a magnificent Krumau landscape and a beautiful sunflower painting) have since then reappeared on the art market and made headlines as they sold for record prices.

The illustrations are of a good quality, even though not as perfect as the ones that grace another available book on the same subject, "Egon Schiele's landscapes, between ruin and renewal" which is a more literary and less purely factual work.

A fine introduction to the extraordinary art of an Austrian painter doomed to a short but productive life.

Professor Rudolf Leopold is a master of explaining the style of Egon Schiele, while revealing to the reader the physical origin of the specific impulse behind many of Schiele's land- and cityscapes.

I urge those with any interest in modern art to buy this book, and, if at all possible, visit the originals in the great museums of Vienna, especially the Leopold.

The book is beautifully illustrated with many of Schiele's finest drawings. I am really very pleased with the contents of this fine publication.

Egon Schiele is well-known for his unequalled skill and originality as a draftsman of the human form, including an unparalleled number of nude self-portraits. His work as a landscape painter is less known but also intensely interesting and often of surpassing color, form and overall beauty. "Egon Schiele Landscapes" by Rudolph Leopold is an impressive chronicle of Schiele's work in this area. The large-format book is beautifully printed, but its strongest point by far is the painting-by-painting explanation and criticism that author Leopold (a Schiele scholar) offers here.

The book starts with surprisingly sophisticated works done by a 16-year old Schiele (1907), showing similarities to paintings by French, Spanish and other European post-impressionists. Several of these early paintings look like landscapes of the same period by Henri Matisse. By 1910, Schiele was painting in a distinctive Secessionist style that became more so in color and form in the eight remaining years of the artist's life. The total output of his 28-year life is phenomenal.

This is a wonderful book from every aspect. It was originally produced for an exhibition of Schiele's landscapes at the Leopold Museum (Vienna) in 2004, but it stands as an excellent piece of art history scholarship and highly desirable addition to anyone's collection of art books. Highly recommended.

I bought this book on speculation following comments by other reviewers.
Having seen some of Schiele's figures, I was very interested in how he handled landscapes...fortunately I was not disappointed.
This volume is a very nice addition to my library, as both a reference for my own work and to develop a better understanding of Schiele's motivation.
Nice quality reproductions throughout.