Fate
In a small town within the boundaries of Vienna, in 1906, a young Egon Schiele applied to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (Akademie der Bildenden Künste) along with the usual handful of other eager applicants. The story goes that Egon was frustrated from the start, knowing the school's strict curriculum of traditional painting and drafting, and was disenchanted (as I assume most born artists are) at the prospect of attending the academy. At this point in his life, his paintings had not yet taken on their own signature and were very similar to what the rest of the country was doing at the time: pastoral land and sea scapes in watercolor showing idyllic settings with precise, albeit colorful, technique - a far cry from the more expressionistic paintings that he later will become famous (and imprisoned!) for.
Can you make out the signature in the second painting? The pastoral scene, complete with church steeple, stippled creek flowing under vaulted bridge, vanishing with precise atmospheric perspective on the usual castle --- all done with a deft hand and a steady eye, all composed fine, but without any of the "feeling" of an actual painting. Can you make out the little letters jumbled into the bottom left?
It is by one Adolf Hitler. Yes, no surprise that he painted as a youth, and judging by the hundreds of watercolors and other paintings of his, he was not too bad. A skilled draftsman, versed technically, and a perfect match for the Academy in Vienna!
Here, in 1906, we have two applicants to the school: Egon Schiele (who is no doubt opposed, automatically, to the academy and its old fashioned, dusty teachings) and Adolf Hitler (who's paintings are more in line with what the academy already pumps out, and who is a sensitive boy who loves his mother dearly). The story goes that both boys applied to the academy and that both boys were considered only after the school had excepted its anticipated crop of fresh bright young students leaving Schiele and Hitler to fight for the very last spot. The story even goes on to speculate the fact that the two would be room-mates in the dormitory building had the academy had room for the both of them, but alas --- those old men with their robes and beards had only one single place and were forced to choose between the two boys: the born artist and the learned draftsman?
We know the rest of the story, sadly, because the world got a very different Hitler than what could have been had the art school had the funds and room to fit him in. Alas, he was passed over in favor of Egon, who would later rebel and drop out! I can't help but think of that fantastic hand of Fate reaching down from high, with its thick knuckles and bony finger-joints similar to the way Schiele would paint them, manipulating the set pieces on the stage of this world with a happy fervor: here nudging Egon into painting while snubbing Adolf in the process.
*footnote:
I have several sources, in the form of scholarly books on Schiele that seem to me to be quite sound in their research, that say this is all true -- that Hitler was a competitor for the spot at the school and that Schiele did in fact get chosen. I also am looking at Wikipedia, which seems to discourage this marvellous story and reports that Hitler applied and got denied from the academy in 1907, and not 1906 when Schiele had applied. As with ghosts and windows, I find it more fun to choose the side with more whimsy and will always think of the story, and tell it, exactly as it should be and not as it maybe was.
