Tate Liverpool unveils Egon Schiele summer exhibition

Tate Liverpool’s summer blockbuster show pairs the work of Egon Schiele and Francesca Woodman.

Both the Austrian expressionist painter and American photographer were concerned with the naked human form and with self-portraits, and both died in the their 20s.

Life In Motion highlights the expressive nature of the human body, seen through the eyes of the two influential and innovative artists.

Schiele, a protégé of Gustav Klimt whose work drew tens of thousands to Tate Liverpool during Capital of Culture year, created work of rawness and intensity, including a number of naked self-portraits, and the Albert Dock gallery’s exhibition gives art lovers a rare chance to see a large number of his drawings showcasing his technical skills and distinctive style.

His mainstream appeal was growing and his career was just starting to take off when he died in the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918 at the age of 28.

Francesca Woodman - Untitled. © Courtesy of George and Betty Woodman

Top: Egon Schiele - Self-portrait in Crouching Position 1913

Meanwhile curators believe Woodman’s photographs help to refocus how we see the work of Schiele, highlighting how the latter’s practices and ideas continue to have a relevance to contemporary art.

The Denver-born artist, who took her own life when she was 22, was one of the most innovative – and prolific - photographers of the second half of the 20th century.

During her career she produced more than 800 photographs in which she aimed to convey what she referred to as ‘the body’s inner force’.

Her figures were often blurred, an effect created by long camera exposure, or hidden among their landscape.

Life In Motion: Egon Schiele/Francesca Woodman is at Tate Liverpool from May 24 to September 23. Tickets are £12.50 with concessions.