By Lewis Crofts, 2011
Lewis Crofts sets up a dark anti-romantic perspective in the
first line of this novel: “While on his honeymoon in Trieste, Adolf infected
his wife with syphilis.” He makes a point of continuing this tone throughout
the novel. This is in keeping with the subject of the novel – Egon Shiele apparently
lived most of his short life in poverty, alienation and social rejection, crossing
over into a grimy criminality when it suited him. In the last few years of his
life, he was recognized as one of the best painters in Europe with commissions
in demand before he died in the 1918 flu epidemic.
Schiele sketched and painted young girls and prostitutes in provocative
and sexually revealing poses. He seemed to be obsessed with capturing them in
paint and frequently had casual sex with his portrait subjects. In this novel,
he pays prostitutes for posing and for sex, but also seduces the daughters of
the wealthy men who commissioned him to paint them. He paints the decadence of
Viennese society in the early 20th century until the society
destroys itself – and him – in the collapse of its empire in the First World
War.
Crofts uses language and scenes in the same way to tell Shiele’s
life amid the corruption. Like Shiele, he doesn’t spare the corruption,
describing the exploitation, violence and hypocrisy of the self-satisfied
society. He writes what Shiele sees, vivid descriptions of blood, dirt, vomit,
skin, hair. Crofts is equally vivid in describing the smooth skin, luminous
hair, voluptuous fabrics and elegant lines that Shiele paints, although it’s
the grittier details that stand out.
Shiele appears to be carnal and driven, but not unkind,
manipulative or exploitive – if Crofts is correct, he seems to have paid for
his models and they appreciated it. His more complicated relationships are with
other men – his painting mentor Gustav Klimt, his patron and friend Roessler,
his domineering father and uncle. They sometimes support him, but also play on
his insecurities and manipulate him to get the art that they want. It’s not
always clear if they just want pornographic pictures or if they appreciate
Shiele’s artistry. To a degree, this story seems to reflect the model of the
struggling artist who draws beauty out of adversity. While Shiele struggles
with poverty and acceptance, as Crofts tells it his deeper struggles are with
his internal drives and the men who want to manipulate him. Toward the end of
his career, when he seems happier in marriage, he tells his friend that he has
chosen to adopt a more commercial style so that he can support his family. His
friend tells him that he was a better artist when he was less successful.
Whenever I read this kind of personalized biography, I
wonder what’s real and what’s made to fit the author’s story. According to
Wikipedia, the facts of Crofts’ story are accurate. The backroom dialogues and
intimate details must be Crofts’ creation to support the story he wants to
tell. They seem to fit the characters, coloured as needed by the shading and
angles that an artist must put into a portrait.
I’ve admired Shiele’s work without knowing anything of his
life. In parts, Crofts’ story makes it more challenging to admire Shiele. With today’s
view of the exploitation of women and children, a view more critical than
Shiele would have accepted, some of his practices seem abhorrent. The frequent
conflict between the artistic creator and the artistic product is not resolved
in this story, although it offers a detailed and unvarnished view for
consideration. I read this novel as a way to start thinking about a trip to
Vienna, and I will certainly have this story in mind whenever I view Shiele’s
work and the comfortable bourgeois lifestyle it punctures.
