Oskar Kokoschka

Austrian, 1886–1980

BiographyBorn 1 March 1886 at Pöchlarn on the Danube, Kokoschka spent his childhood and youth mainly in Vienna, where he studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) from 1905 to 1909, joined the Wiener Werkstätte, and wrote and illustrated fairy tales, poetry, and theatrical works. In 1909 he turned to "psychological" portrait painting and in 1910 moved to Berlin, where he collaborated with Herwarth Walden on the Expressionist periodical Der Sturm, produced lithographs and posters, and had his first solo exhibition at Paul Cassirer's gallery. Upon his return to Vienna in 1911, he continued to paint portraits, although his work was vilified by the conservative press.

In the spring of 1912, he began a two-year affair with Alma Mahler, widow of the composer Gustav Mahler and the inspiration for three double portraits by the artist. Kokoschka was seriously injured in World War I, while serving in the Austrian army. In 1917, after recovery, Kokoschka moved to Dresden, where he taught until 1924, and worked on large portrait drawings, watercolors, and paintings, as well as landscapes and biblical scenes.

From 1924 until 1931, thanks to a contract with Cassirer, he was able to travel widely throughout Europe and North Africa. In 1933 financial difficulties and health problems forced him to return to Vienna. He later moved to Prague, where he met his future wife Olda Palkovská. The two moved to England in 1939, and to Villeneuve on Lake Geneva in 1953. There Kokoschka died on 22 February 1980.

Throughout his life Kokoschka was an outspoken proponent of the avant garde as an artist, writer, and political activist. Eight of his works were shown at Hitler's Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibition in Munich in 1937, and over eight hundred of his works in German public collections were confiscated by the National Socialists.