Oskar Kokoschka :: essays papers

Oskar KokoschkaKokoschka was born in Pchlarn, a Danube town, on March 1, 1886. He examine at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts from 1905 to 1908. Asan early exponent of the avant-garde expressionist movement, he beganto paint psychologically penetrating portraits of Viennese physicians,architects, and artists. Among these deeds are Hans Tietze and EricaTietze-Conrat (1909, Museum of Modern Art, New York City), August Forel(1910, Mannheim Art Gallery, Germany), and Self-Portrait (1913, Museumof Modern Art). Kokoschka was wounded in World War I (1914-1918) anddiagnosed as psychologically unstable. He taught art at the DresdenAcademy from 1919 to 1924. During this time he painted The Power ofMusic (1919, Dresden Paintings Collection, Dresden). A succeedingseven-year period of travel in Europe and the pump East resulted in anumber of robust, brilliantly colored landscapes and figure pieces,painted with great freedom and exuberance. Many of them are views ofharbors, mountains, and c ities. Kokoschka, one of the artistsdenounced by the Nazi government of Germany as degenerate, moved in1938 to England, where he painted anti struggle pictures during World War II(1939-1945) and became a British subject in 1947. After the war hevisited the United States and settled in Switzerland. He died inMontreux on February 22, 1980. Best known as a painter, Kokoschka wasalso a writer. His literary industrial plant include poetry and plays nottranslated into English and a collection of short stories, A Sea Ringedwith Visions (1956 translated 1962). His father was a silversmithfrom Prague who experienced financial difficulties when the market forsuch handcrafted goods dried out with mass industrialization. Oskarsexposure to his fathers craftsmanship, however, was said to play alarge part in his art and enthusiasm for craftsmanship. In 1908, abook called The Dreaming Youths was published, and it featuredillustrations by Kokoschka. They were done in a style that was indebtedt o Gustav Klimt, whose Secession root word was going strong at the time.Kokoschka was teaching at the School of Arts and Crafts where he hadstudied himself under Franz Cizek. Cizek was among the first torecognize the young artists talents. In Vienna, Kokoschka wrotedramas such as The Assassin, Murderer, and The Hope of Women and they,along with his art, were considered too radical for the aristocracy.Despite support from architect Adolf Loos and good reaction from hisparticipation in the 1908 and 1909 exhibits at the Kunstschau, Viennawas not kind to Kokoschka. In 1910, he moved to Berlin. In Berlin, hegot the help of Herwarth Walden, the founder and editor of the art