Introduced by Edwin Mullins
This Austrian painter died in the Spanish
'flu epidemic in 1918 at the age of 28. He had been to prison accused of pornography but the evidence was not enough to convict him. Though a disciple of the famous Art Nouveau artist Gustav Klimt, Schiele remained virtually unknown until 50 years after his death, when public opinion had changed sufficiently to accept SCHIELE'S honesty.
He described the darker side of sex, fear, frustration, anguish, obsessions with a terrible frankness. Yet he has also done many beautiful landscapes, which capture the countryside and villages with stunning accuracy as you will see in this film which won the Grand
Prix at Paris International Art Film Festival for 1976 and the ' Perla ' Grand Prix for the best documentary film 1976, at Milan.
The second of four programmes about European art and artists.
English version by EDWIN MULLINS Written and directed by JEAN-LOUIS FOURNIER
Executive producers
MICHELE ARNAUD , REINER MORITZ RM Productions