‘Correspondence as Care for Erwin Osen’s “Lustknabe”’
Article by Gemma Blackshaw and Adam Kaasa
2022
Writing
Queer
Article by Gemma Blackshaw and Adam Kaasa
2022
Writing
Queer
‘Correspondence as Care for Erwin Osen’s “Lustknabe”
Article by Gemma Blackshaw and Adam Kaasa, pp122 - 135.
From the introduction
“This paper takes the form of an epistolary dialogue which took place through Covid-time, when correspondence between those who could not be together in person was reinvigorated as the means of maintaining collegial, intellectual and emotional relationships. At its heart lies an exchange of two letters between two colleagues and firends, on a single work of art by the Austrian artist Erwin Osen (1891-1970). The work - a drawing of a figure titled by Osen on the sheet as “Lustknabe” [Catamite] - was included in the exhibition Gemma Blackshaw co-curated for the Leopold Museum, The Body Electric: Erwin Osen - Egon Schiele. It was a wwork which resonated with conversations Blackshaw had been having with Adam Kaasa on the body, performance and gender, and on the activation of the creative research methods of curating and writing as means of caring for the lives and works of historical subjects. The figure depicted by Osen - so striking, so remarkably contemporary - seemed to her to be wanting to somehow join these conversations. She forwarded the drawing as a digital file to Kaasa, asking if they would loike to correspond about it, expanding their letter-writing to include the Lustknabe; the answer, sent as one of many notes back and forth between the two, was yes.”
Publication details
EGON SCHIELE: Milius und Perspektiven, Conference volume on the 4th Egon Schiele Symposium at the Leopold Museum, 2021
Editors: Verena Gamper und Hans-Peter Wipplinger
Authors: Christian Bauer, Gemma Blackshaw, Elisabeth Dutz, Sandra Maria Dzialek, Verena Gamper, Adam Kaasa, Jane Kallir, Elisabeth Leopold, Karin Maierhofer, Franz Smola, Sandra Tretter
Das 4. Egon Schiele-Symposium umkreiste den schillernden Künstlerfreund Erwin Osen unter anderem mit Reflexionen zu Geschlechternormen und zum Spannungsfeld von Kunst und Medizin, darüber hinaus wurde die Beziehung zwischen Schiele und Gustav Klimt beleuchtet sowie Blicke auf Schieles Werke aus restauratorischer Perspektive vorgestellt.
Publishers: Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Vienna 2022
19 x 24 cm, 176 pages, approx. 140 illustrations, ISBN 978-3-9505185-3-5
Article by Gemma Blackshaw and Adam Kaasa, pp122 - 135.
From the introduction
“This paper takes the form of an epistolary dialogue which took place through Covid-time, when correspondence between those who could not be together in person was reinvigorated as the means of maintaining collegial, intellectual and emotional relationships. At its heart lies an exchange of two letters between two colleagues and firends, on a single work of art by the Austrian artist Erwin Osen (1891-1970). The work - a drawing of a figure titled by Osen on the sheet as “Lustknabe” [Catamite] - was included in the exhibition Gemma Blackshaw co-curated for the Leopold Museum, The Body Electric: Erwin Osen - Egon Schiele. It was a wwork which resonated with conversations Blackshaw had been having with Adam Kaasa on the body, performance and gender, and on the activation of the creative research methods of curating and writing as means of caring for the lives and works of historical subjects. The figure depicted by Osen - so striking, so remarkably contemporary - seemed to her to be wanting to somehow join these conversations. She forwarded the drawing as a digital file to Kaasa, asking if they would loike to correspond about it, expanding their letter-writing to include the Lustknabe; the answer, sent as one of many notes back and forth between the two, was yes.”
Publication details
EGON SCHIELE: Milius und Perspektiven, Conference volume on the 4th Egon Schiele Symposium at the Leopold Museum, 2021
Editors: Verena Gamper und Hans-Peter Wipplinger
Authors: Christian Bauer, Gemma Blackshaw, Elisabeth Dutz, Sandra Maria Dzialek, Verena Gamper, Adam Kaasa, Jane Kallir, Elisabeth Leopold, Karin Maierhofer, Franz Smola, Sandra Tretter
Das 4. Egon Schiele-Symposium umkreiste den schillernden Künstlerfreund Erwin Osen unter anderem mit Reflexionen zu Geschlechternormen und zum Spannungsfeld von Kunst und Medizin, darüber hinaus wurde die Beziehung zwischen Schiele und Gustav Klimt beleuchtet sowie Blicke auf Schieles Werke aus restauratorischer Perspektive vorgestellt.
Publishers: Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Vienna 2022
19 x 24 cm, 176 pages, approx. 140 illustrations, ISBN 978-3-9505185-3-5
Images of the publication EGON SCHIELE: Milius und Perspektiven, Conference volume on the 4th Egon Schiele Symposium at the Leopold Museum, 2021