Maddy Ulm by Egon Schiele

Posted on 14 Feb 2012 by Bradford Tatum

Here is the Egon Schiele (1890-1918) drawing of Maddy that she recognized as herself from the collection of James Whale, the director of Frankenstein. Another drawing, much like it but with dark eyes and no bangs, is in the Leopold Collection in Vienna. But Maddy assures me both drawings are from the same frantic session. “Once the artist found a pose he preferred,” she says, “one was inclined to hold it indefinitely, at least until one no longer heard the rustle of pages falling to the floor.” The version in the Leopold Museum has been mis-identified, according to Miss Ulm, as Sitzendes krankes Mӓdchen (Sick Girl, Seated). “The only thing I was sick with was anticipation,” she told me. “And I was not seated. I was reclining, having just awoken in a room cold enough to hang meat.” I asked her why she never named the artist outright in her memoir. “We were never properly introduced,” she said. “I knew him much like he knew me. Beyond names, down to the depths of intimate function.”