Crouching Nude in Shoes and Black Stockings, Back View

Crouching Nude in Shoes and Black Stockings, Back View by Egon Schiele, executed in 1912, is a potent example of the artist's intense focus on the psychologically charged human form. Classified specifically as a drawing, the work utilizes a complex and characteristic combination of watercolor, graphite, and opaque watercolor on paper, techniques that allowed Schiele to achieve both rich textures and stark emotional contrasts.

This piece belongs to a major series of female nudes created by Schiele during his most productive period. These works are characterized by radical psychological exposure, deliberate vulnerability, and raw linearity. The figure, dramatically contorted and viewed entirely from the back, emphasizes Schiele’s decisive rejection of idealized classical representation common in earlier periods. The application of accessories, specifically the shoes and black stockings, grounds the exposed figure in a confrontational modernity typical of Viennese Expressionism at the beginning of the 20th century.

The masterful control of the medium highlights the pervasive anxiety and emotional intensity inherent in Schiele's explorations of the body. The sparse, selective use of color contrasts sharply with the decisive graphite outline, which emphasizes the figure’s angularity and anatomical tension. As a significant drawing from this era, the work provides crucial insight into Austrian art history and remains a central reference point for the study of figurative Expressionism. This important work on paper is held within the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.