Expressionism

Expressionism was a modernist movement that originated in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. The Industrial Revolution had brought intense social change and Europe was in political turmoil. Artists began to look at humanity differently. They wanted their work to force an emotional reaction, and they wanted to throw off the old ways of depicting life and nature.

The themes of expressionism were diverse, experimental and radical. Artists expressed their deepest emotions through strong colour and design. They did not want to paint pretty pictures, or even realistic ones—they used ugliness, distortion and disassociation to express their own feelings, and elicit strong emotional reaction.

For their tribute to Schiele, the FREYWILLE artists created two collections: Bohemian Air and Dancing Muse. For Bohemian Air, they looked to Schiele´s painting Houses With Drying Laundry, which shows a typical view of Krumlov and, with its bright colours and realistic elements, discloses an intimate, contemporary view of the city’s everyday life.

A portrait by Schiele of Friederike Maria Beer was the inspiration for Dancing Muse. She was a fan, a patron and a Viennese fashion icon. The FREYWILLE design was inspired by the expressive dancing movements of the woman who would become Schiele´s muse.

Egon Schiele was born in Lower Austria in 1890. He did poorly in school, and was eventually grudgingly allowed to study art; he started with a private tutor, and then was accepted at Vienna’s Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts). At the insistence of his instructors there, he was moved to the more traditional Akademie der Bildenden Künste. Schiele then sought out a mentor—specifically, the successful Viennese artists Gustav Klimt. Klimt took a particular interest in Schiele, buying his drawings, helping him find models and introducing him to patrons. It was not long before Schiele was exhibiting in exhibitions, and then having his own shows.

In 1910 Schiele and his teen-aged girlfriend Wally Neuzil moved to Krumlov, where his mother was born. Many of his famous works were created here but his lifestyle and artistic depictions of human sexuality were met with disapproval and he and Wally had to leave. They moved to Neulengbach, where Schiele was jailed for exhibiting erotic drawings. The couple returned to Vienna, where he could work under the protection of Klimt. Schiele then fell in love with Edith Warms and married her. He was then conscripted, spending much of World War I working at a POW camp in Muhling, where he was given a storeroom to use as a studio. All through the war, he continued to work—and his work was selling. His reputation was made, but all of it came to an end when the Spanish Flu took the pregnant Edith, and then Egon. He died in 1918, at age 28.