Description
Egon Schiele – Lilly Steiner, 1918
This Egon Schiele work, Lilly Steiner, is our hand-drawn copy in black crayon on paper of a drawing from 1918. The original is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
What the sheet shows
The sheet shows a clothed female figure, drawn to the waist and turned slightly to one side. Face, hair and collar are carried by a few decisive strokes, while the hands are indicated by contour alone. Schiele left the background completely empty, so the whole weight of the drawing rests on the line itself.
The original’s medium and format
The original is a drawing on paper — the museum records it as “Black crayon on paper” — measuring 28.9 × 45.1 cm (width × height) (inv. 1984.433.291).
Where it is
The drawing is today in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which received it through the Scofield Thayer bequest (inv. 1984.433.291).
Our hand-drawn copy
Our copy is drawn by hand in black crayon on paper, the same medium as the original, and made in the size you choose. Like our paintings, it is made entirely by hand. We send you a photograph of the finished work for approval before it ships.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Lilly Steiner?
Lilly Steiner, born Lilly Hofmann (1884–1961), was a Viennese painter and graphic artist who trained at the Art School for Women and Girls in Vienna. In 1904 she married Hugo Steiner, and she was a member of the Viennese artists’ association Hagenbund. In 1927 the couple moved to Paris, where she died in 1961.
When did Schiele draw Lilly Steiner?
In 1918, the last year of his life: Schiele died in Vienna that October, in the influenza epidemic, at the age of 28. His late drawings show calmer, smoother contours than the tense line of his early years.
What does Schiele’s drawing of Lilly Steiner show?
A clothed woman seen to the waist and turned slightly to one side. Schiele set down her face, hair and collar with a few decisive strokes, indicated the hands by contour alone and left the background empty.
What technique did Schiele use for Lilly Steiner?
Black crayon on paper, as the Metropolitan Museum records it. The upright sheet measures 28.9 × 45.1 cm, and everything in it is carried by line, with no colour and no background.
Where is Schiele’s Lilly Steiner today?
In the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, under inventory number 1984.433.291. It came to the museum with the bequest of the American collector Scofield Thayer, who died in 1982.
Who was Scofield Thayer?
Scofield Thayer (1889–1982) was an American editor who ran the literary magazine The Dial in the 1920s. From 1921 he lived in Vienna for more than two years, where he was psychoanalysed by Sigmund Freud and bought works by Klimt, Schiele and other artists. He left his art collection to the Metropolitan Museum, which received it after his death in 1982.
