Weiblicher Rückenakt 1998

Egon Schiele made this drawing of a female nude, in pen and ink, to get to the root of a figure. The way the ink line scratches around the form is all about process. There are no pretty colors to distract you, it's just the artist trying to figure out what he sees. The line is wiry and nervous, capturing the tension in the model’s pose as she twists her torso. Check out the line that defines the spine. It's not a smooth curve, but a series of angular segments, almost like a broken branch. And the smattering of marks on the figure's rear, are they moles or just the artist testing the pen? That ambiguity is so important. It keeps the drawing alive, refusing to settle into a fixed representation. Schiele reminds me a bit of Alice Neel, in their shared interest in the raw, unvarnished truth of the human form. For both artists, art is less about beauty, and more about the messy, complicated reality of being alive.