Egon Schiele: 'Women' unseen paintings and drawings at Richard Nagy, London

Egon Schiele, painting on paper, gouache. c.1910. Richard Nagy Ltd.

Another powerful exhibition, not seen in London for some time, is currently on show at the Richard Nagy Gallery. Check out Jonathan Jones's article in the Guardian here, there are also more slides of the works on show. The work continues until 30th July.

For many, Schiele is still a controversial painter and his lifestyle still provocative. In my view, there are few painters from the twentieth century that are not controversial, from Schiele's contemporary Kilmt, to Picasso. Jonathan, states in his article: 

'There is a definite sense of discovering secrets, trespassing on hidden private lives, at the Schiele show,...The exhibition collects nearly 50 masterpieces – fragile works on paper – that dealer Richard Nagy has sold throughout his career and has borrowed back from private collectors to mount one of the most spectacular Schiele shows ever seen in the UK.'

This exhibition exhibits drawings on paper in watercolour and gouache. He creates poses that are intimate and yet for public consumption, many of these poses reflect the wider feelings explored by German Expressionism and New Objectivity movements across Germany and Europe in the 1920's and 30's. In my ways he predicted the voyeuristic desire that is so prevalent in society since WWI. He died at 28 of influenza in 1918. There are some self-portraits in the exhibition, including the infamous 'Eros'...

Egon Schiele, Reclining Female Nude with Violet Stockings, 1910. Gouache, watercolour and black crayon on paper, 31.6 x 44.9 cm (12 ½ x 17 5/8 in). Private Collection, Courtesy of Richard Nagy Ltd, London.

Modigliani exhibition in Prague

All films on artists never work because they cannot catch the visceral nature of the artwork, especially painting, but Andy Garcia gives it a go, great atmosphere and contemporary music.

Modigliani in  Prague is organised by the Gallery Vernon.

There is a new exhibition of Modigliani in Prague from December 2010. This which will be the first solo exhibition of his works in the Czech Republic, will be officially opened in Prague's Municipal House Wednesday. The event, which opens to the public on Thursday and it will run through February 28, 2011, is one of the most expensive exhibitions in Prague. The exhibition will present over 60 exhibits, including Modigliani's drawings and oil paintings along with photographs and other documents from his life. Among the most valuable oil paintings are 'Student', 'A Portrait of Marevna' (Russian cubist artist) from 1919 as well as the portraits of artist 'Celso Lagar' (1915) and 'Dr Francois Brabander' (1918).

Left, Modigliani, middle, Picasso and on the right Andre Salmon

 Only a couple of Modigliani's paintings were displayed in the National Gallery in Prague in the past. Curator Serena Baccaglini said her aim was to present Modigliani in connection with the work of Czech-born artist Frantisek Kupka (1871-1957), a pioneer of abstract art. She was inspired by a photograph from a joint exhibition of both artists in Paris in 1912. The exhibition in the Municipal House will therefore also offer some paintings by Kupka from private collectors.

'Red Nude' Modigliani, 1917. This is a classic, bit it's not in the show

 What can you say about Modigliani? He is one of those artists that has become a myth, you either came out of Paris in the early Twentieth Century a star or in a coffin, and Paris was littered with those. Unfortunately, his success came after his death. There is a charged eroticism to his nude figures that still retains much of the Bohemian Paris that he was a part of in the Batou Lavoir studios in Monmartre. Along with Egon Scheile they somehow express an emotional representation of the artist's desire...? Modigliani died of Tubercular Meningitis in 1920