Standing Girl

Schiele's drawing of his sister, Gerti, is a striking example of the decadent eroticism that infused art in Vienna at the turn of the century. Most likely conceived as a study for a stained-glass window, the drawing's provocative nudity and flat, decorative patterning is stylistically similar to the Viennese Jugendstil and the paintings of Gustav Klimt, which influenced Schiele's own work until 1909. The claw-like hands and emaciated body lend the teen-aged Gerti an air of decadence, corresponding to popular depictions of the Biblical temptresses Judith and Salomé. Although surrounded in a distinct air of impropriety, this drawing testifies to the artist's confident mastery of line and his sensitive gift for portraiture.