Page "editorial" Paragraph 908

A short, tormented span

Of the handful of painters that Austria has produced in the 20th century, only one, Oskar Kokoschka, is widely known in the U.S..

This state of unawareness may not last much longer.

For ten years a small group of European and U.S. critics has been calling attention to the half-forgotten Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele, who died 42 years ago at the age of 28.

The critics' campaign finally inspired the first major U.S. exhibit of Schiele's works.

The show has been to Boston and Manhattan, will in time reach Pittsburgh and Minneapolis.

Last week it opened at the J. B. Speed Museum in Louisville, at the very moment that a second Schiele exhibit was being made ready at the Felix Landau gallery in Los Angeles.