GREGOIRE
JEANMONOD
Art and its stories as an inspiration
Egon Schiele
Cardinal and Nun
1912
Admire without imitating
In 1907, the future painter Egon Schiele, Austrian then aged 17, met his idol Gustav Klimt, 30 years his senior. Recognized artist and member founder of the movement
avant- garde baptized "Secession Vienne"
noise", Klimt quickly became the master
- both artistic and spiritual - from Schiele:
the young man walks in the footsteps of
his friend and mentor, in whom he sees "an artist
of unparalleled perfection".
Schiele willingly claimed this filia-
tion. But if many of his works
realize the influence of master,
he nevertheless took care to develop a personal style, of a striking singularity, drawing inspiration from the work of Klimt without scrupulously imitating him. the
best example of this posture - between admiration and emancipation - is provided by his canvas of 1912
Cardinal and Nun . While explicitly citing one of
masterpieces of Klimt, the Kiss , Schiele
distances itself from it by upsetting it radically-
is lying meaning . While the work of Klimt,
depicting a couple kneeling and embracing
in a golden decor, was an ode to the
purity of love, that of Schiele, which
represents the forbidden antics of a nun
and a cardinal exactly in the same
position, wants to be resolutely sulphurous.
Faithful to his taste for provocation and to his anti -clerical opinions, Schiele diverts the exalted work of his mentor to deliver a charge against Catholic dogma.
Gustav Klimt, The Kiss , 190 9
What we can take away:
​
Learning from our elders, masters or mentors does not mean aping their ways of working or thinking. On the contrary, it is more constructive to distance ourselves from them by associating their lessons with our aspirations. and personal intuitions. It is in this appropriation, both free and respectful, that lies the purpose of the pedagogical approach.
