Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian artist, poet and playwright best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes.
Biography
He was born in Pöchlarn, second child to Gustav Josef Kokoschka, a Czech goldsmith, and Maria Romana Kokoschka (née Loidl). His older brother died in infancy in 1887; he had a sister, Berta (born in 1889) and a brother, Bohuslav (born in 1892). Oskar had a strong belief in omens, spurred by a story of a fire breaking out in Pöchlarn shortly after his mother gave birth to him. Kokoschka's life was not easy mainly due to a lack of financial help from his father. They constantly moved into smaller flats, farther and farther from the thriving center of the town. Concluding that his father was inadequate, Kokoschka drew closer to his mother; he felt that he was the head of the household and continued to support his family when he gained wealth. Kokoschka entered secondary school at Realschule, where emphasis was placed on the study of modern subjects such as science and language. Kokoschka was not interested in these subjects, as he found he only excelled in art, and spent most of his time reading classic literature during his lessons. This education of classic literature is said to have influenced his artwork.
One of Kokoschka's professors suggested he pursue a career in fine art. Against his father's will, Kokoschka applied to Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts) in Vienna, where he was one of three accepted out of 153 applicants. Kunstgewerbeschule was an extremely progressive school that focused mainly on architecture, furniture, crafts and modern design. Unlike the more prestigious and traditional Academy of Fine Art in Vienna, Kunstgewerbeschule was dominated by instructors of the Vienna Secession. Kokoschka studied there from 1904 to 1909, and was influenced by his professor Carl Otto Czeschka in developing an original style.
Among Kokoschka's early works were gesture drawings of children, which portrayed them as awkward and corpse-like. Kokoschka had no formal training in painting and so approached the medium without regard to the "traditional" or "correct" way to paint. The teachers at Kunstgewerbeschule helped Kokoschka gain opportunities through the Wiener Werkstätte or Viennese Workshops. Kokoschka's first commissions were postcards and drawings for children. Kokoschka said that it gave him "the basis of [his] artistic training".[1] His early career was marked by portraits of Viennese celebrities, painted in a nervously animated style.
The house in which Oskar Kokoschka was born in Pöchlarn (August 2006)
Kokoschka had a passionate, often stormy affair with Alma Mahler. It began in 1912, shortly after the death of her four-year-old daughter Maria Mahler and her affair with Walter Gropius. After several years together, Alma rejected him, explaining that she was afraid of being too overcome with passion. He continued to love her his entire life, and one of his greatest works, The Bride of the Wind (The Tempest), is a tribute to her. The poet Georg Trakl visited the studio while Kokoschka was painting this masterpiece. Kokoschka's poem Allos Makar[2] was inspired by this relationship.
He volunteered for service as a cavalryman in the Austrian army in World War I, and in 1915 was seriously wounded. At the hospital, the doctors decided that he was mentally unstable. Nevertheless, he continued to develop his career as an artist, traveling across Europe and painting the landscape.
Oskar Kokoschka in 1963, by Erling Mandelmann
He commissioned a life-sized female doll in 1918.[3] Although intended to simulate Alma and receive his affection, the gynoid-Alma did not satisfy Kokoschka and he destroyed it during a party.[4]
Deemed a degenerate by the Nazis, Kokoschka fled Austria in 1934 for Prague. In Prague his name was adopted by a group of other expatriate artists, the Oskar-Kokoschka-Bund (OKB), though he declined to otherwise participate.[5] In 1938, when the Czechs began to mobilize for the expected invasion of the Wehrmacht, he fled to the United Kingdom and remained there during the war. With the help of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia (later the Czech Refugee Trust Fund), all members of the OKB were able to escape through Poland and Sweden.
During World War II, Kokoschka and his wife lived in Ullapool, a village in Wester Ross, Scotland for several summer months. There he drew with colored pencil (a technique he developed in Scotland), and painted many local landscape views in watercolour.[6]
While in Ullapool, Kokoschka painted a painting of his friend, wealthy industrialist Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, Uncle of Maria Altmann. The painting hangs at the Kunsthaus Museum in Zurich.[7]
Kokoschka became a British citizen in 1946 and would only regain Austrian citizenship in 1978. He traveled briefly to the United States in 1947 before settling in Switzerland, where he lived the rest of his life. He died in Montreux on 22 February 1980.
Kokoschka had much in common with his contemporary Max Beckmann. Both maintained their independence from German Expressionism, yet are now regarded as textbook examples of the style. Nonetheless, their individualism set both apart from the main movements of Twentieth Century modernism. Both wrote eloquently of the need to develop the art of "seeing" (Kokoschka emphasized depth perception while Beckmann was concerned with mystical insight into the invisible realm), and both were masters of innovative oil-painting techniques anchored in earlier traditions.
Artworks
Portrait of Lotte Franzos 1909, (oil on canvas, 114.9 cm × 79.4 cm), The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
Postage stamp of Konrad Adenauer after a painting by Oskar Kokoschka
Nude with Back Turned, ink, gouache and chalk drawing, c. 1907
1909: Lotte Franzos
1909: Martha Hirsch I
1909: Hans and Erika Tietze
1909: St. Veronica with the Sudarium
1909: Les Dents du Midi
1909: Children Playing
1910: Still Life with Lamb and Hyacinth
1910: Rudolf Blümner
1911: Lady in Red
1911: Hermann Schwarzwald I
1911: Egon Wellesz
1911: Crucifixion
1912: Two Nudes
1913: Landscape in the Dolomites (with Cima Tre Croci)
1913: The Tempest
1913: Carl Moll
1913: Still Life with Putto and Rabbit
1914: The Bride of the Wind
1914: Portrait of Franz Hauser
1915: Knight Errant
1917: Portrait of the Artist's Mother
1917: Lovers with Cat
1917: Stockholm Harbour
1920: The Power of Music
1919: Dresden, Neustadt I
1921: Dresden, Neustadt II
1921: Two Girls
1922: Self-Portrait at the Easel
1923: Self-Portrait with Crossed Arms
1924: Venice, Boats on the Dogana
1925: Amsterdam, Kloveniersburgwal I
1925: Toledo
1926: Mandrill
1926: Deer
1926: London Large Thomas View I
1929: Arab Women and Child
1932: Girl with Flowers
1934: Prague, View from the Villa Kramář
1937: Olda Palkovská
1938: Prague – Nostalgia
1940: The Crab
1941: Anschluss – Alice in Wonderland
1941: The Red Egg
1948: Self-Portrait (Fiesole)
1962: Storm Tide in Hamburg
1966: The Rejected Lover
1971: Time, Gentlemen, Please
Writings
Kokoschka's literary works are as peculiar and interesting as his art. His memoir, A Sea Ringed with Visions, is as wildly psychedelic as anything written by others under the influence of actual hallucinogens. His short play Murderer, the Hope of Women (1909, set ten years later by Paul Hindemith as Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen) is often called the first Expressionist drama. His Orpheus und Eurydike (1918) became an opera by Ernst Krenek, who was first approached for incidental music.
Bibliography
1908: Die traumenden Knaben (The Dreaming Youths) Vienna: Wiener Werkstätte (Originally published in an edition of 500 by the Wiener Werkstätte. Unsold copies numbered 1–275, were reissued in 1917 by Kurt Wolff Verlag.)
1909: Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen (Murderer, the Hope of Women) (Play)
1913: Der Gefesslte Columbus(Columbus Bound). [Berlin]: Fritz Gurlitt, [1913] (known as Der Weisse Tiertoter (The White Animal Slayer).
1919: Orpheus and Eurydike, in: Vier Dramen: Orpheus und Eurydike; Der brennende Dornbusch; Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen; [and] Hiob. Berlin
1962: A Sea Ringed with Visions. London: Thames & Hudson ISBN 978-0-500-01014-3 (Autobiography)
1974: My Life; translated (from "Mein Leben") by David Britt. London: Thames & Hudson ISBN 0-500-01087-0
First productions of plays
1907: Sphinx und Strohmann. Komödie für Automaten. 29 March 1909 at Cabaret Fledermaus, Vienna
1909: Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen
1911: Der brennende Dornbusch
1913: Sphinx und Strohmann, Ein Curiosum. 14 April 1917 in the Dada-Galerie, Zürich
1917: Hiob (an enlarged version of Sphinx und Strohmann, 1907)
1919: Orpheus und Eurydike
1923: new version as opera libretto; music by Ernst Krenek. 27 November 1926 at the Staatstheater, Kassel
1936–38/1972: Comenius
Articles, essays and writings
1960: "Lettre de Voyage", Oskar Kokoschka, X magazine, Vol. I, No. II (March 1960)
Tributes
The children's television show Hey Arnold! features a character named Oskar Kokoschka. He is portrayed as a deadbeat in Arnold's family's boarding house.
An English Midlands-based 1980s pop group called themselves 'Oskar Kokoschka'. In 1986 they released a 12 inch EP featuring the songs 'Waiting til it all Blows Over' and 'Letting the water out'.[8]
See also
Facing the Modern: The Portrait in Vienna 1900
References
Whitford, Frank (1986). Oskar Kokoschka: A Life. Library of Congress Cataloging. ISBN 0-689-11794-9.
Poem 1913 Translation.Happiness is otherwise an anagram of Alma & Oskar)
"ALMA: History".[dead link]
[1][dead link]
K. Holz, Modern German Art for Thirties Paris, Prague, and London: Resistance and Acquiescence in a Democratic Public Sphere
One of these is in the Art Gallery in Aberdeen
"London's National Gallery hosts Klimt portrait seized by Nazis".
"Pictures by Covin80s".
Further sources
Adamson, Donald "Oskar Kokoschka at Polperro", in: The Cornish Banner, November 2009, pp. 19–33
Adamson, Donald "Researching Kokoschka", in: The Cornish Banner, November 2010, pp. 22–24
K. Holz, Modern German Art for Thirties Paris, Prague, and London: Resistance and Acquiescence in a Democratic Public Sphere
Extensive article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica
Holz, K. (2004) Modern German Art for Thirties Paris, Prague, and London: resistance and acquiescence in a democratic public sphere. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press
Kokoschka, Oskar (1962) A Sea Ringed with Visions. London: Thames & Hudson ISBN 978-0-500-01014-3 (Autobiography)
Weidinger, Alfred (1996) Kokoschka and Alma Mahler. Munich: Prestel-Verlag ISBN 3-7913-1722-9
Literature
Alfred Weidinger: Oskar Kokoschka. Dreaming Boy and Enfant Terrible. Early Graphic Works, 1902–1909. Ed. Albertina, Vienna 1996.
Alfred Weidinger: Kokoschka and Alma Mahler: Testimony to a Passionate Relationship. Prestel, New York 1996, ISBN 3-7913-1722-9
Further reading
Oskar Kokoschka – La mia vita, Carmine Benincasa – Ed. Marsilio, Venezia 1981
Oskar Kokoschka, "Lettre de Voyage", X magazine, Vol. I, No. II (March 1960)
Berland, Rosa JH. "Expressionist Death Images and the Feminine Other: Oskar Kokoschka’s Mörder Hoffnung der Frauen (1907) and Hugo Von Hofmannsthal’s Elektra (1903). Death Representations in Literature. Cambridge Scholars, 2015.
Berland, Rosa JH. "The radical work of Oskar Kokoschka and the alternative venues of Die Kunstschauen of 1908–1909, Vienna, Austria." Exhibiting Outside the Academy, Salon and Biennial, 1775–1999. Ashgate Press, 2015.
Berland, Rosa JH (Winter–Spring 2008). "The Exploration of Dreams: Kokoschka's Die träumenden Knaben" and Freud". Source. 27 (2/3 Special issue on art and psychoanalysis): 25–31.
Berland, Rosa JH. "The Early Portraits of Oskar Kokoschka: A Narrative of Inner Life". Image and Narrative. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
Hilde Berger: Ob es Hass ist solche Liebe? Oskar Kokoschka und Alma Mahler, Böhlau Verlag, Wien 1999 ISBN 3-205-99103-6, 2nd edition 2008 ISBN 978-3-205-78078-6
Oliver Hilmes: Witwe im Wahn – Das Leben der Alma Mahler-Werfel, Siedler Vlg., München 2004 ISBN 978-3-88680-797-0.
Wolfgang Maier-Preusker: Buch- und Mappenwerke mit Grafik des Deutschen Expressionismus, Ausst.Kat. für Hansestadt Wismar, Wien 2006 ISBN 3-900208-37-9
Tilo Richter (ed.): Horst Tappe: Kokoschka, m. Fotografien v. Horst Tappe, Zitaten (d/e/f) u. Grafiken v. Oskar Kokoschka, Vorwort v. Christoph Vitali, Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 2005 ISBN 3-85616-235-6
Heinz Spielmann: Oskar Kokoschka – Leben und Werk, Dumont Verlag. Köln 2003 ISBN 978-3-8321-7320-3.
Alfred Weidinger: Kokoschkas King Lear. Albertina, Wien 1995 ISBN 3-900656-29-0
Alfred Weidinger: Kokoschka und Alma Mahler – Dokumente einer leidenschaftlichen Begegnung, Reihe 'Pegasus Bibliothek', Prestel Vlg., München/New York 1996 ISBN 3-7913-1711-3. * Widerstand statt Anpassung: Deutsche Kunst im Widerstand gegen den Faschismus 1933–1945, Elefanten Press Verlag GmbH, Berlin 1980
Alfred Weidinger, Alice Strobl: Oskar Kokoschka. Die Zeichnungen und Aquarelle 1897–1916. Werkkatalog, 1. Band. Hg. Albertina. Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 2008 ISBN 978-3-85349-290-1
Alfred Weidinger: Oskar Kokoschka. Träumender Knabe – Enfant terrible, 1906–1922. Hg. Agnes Husslein-Arco, Alfred Weidinger. Belvedere, Wien 2008 ISBN 978-3-901508-37-0
Norbert Werner (Hg.): Kokoschka – Leben und Werk in Daten und Bildern, Insel Vlg., Frankfurt/M. 1991 ISBN 3-458-32609-X
Hans M. Wingler, Friedrich Welz: Oskar Kokoschka – Das druckgraphische Werk , Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1975 ISBN 3-85349-037-9
Johann Winkler, Katharina Erling: Oskar Kokoschka – Die Gemälde 1906–1929, Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1995
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