Oskar Kokoschka
author · illustrator
Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian painter, poet and playwright associated with Expressionism, known for intense portraits and landscapes. Born in Pöchlarn on the Danube, he studied at Vienna's Kunstgewerbeschule and became a central figure of the Viennese avant-garde before the First World War. He was wounded during his wartime service in the Austrian army. In the early 1920s he taught at the Dresden Academy and travelled widely, painting many landscapes. He fled Nazi-occupied Austria in 1934 and later emigrated to Britain, where he was naturalised in 1947. He regained Austrian citizenship in 1978 and had settled in Switzerland in 1953, where he died in Montreux. Among his honours were the CBE (1959) and the Erasmus Prize (1960). A retrospective was held at the Tate Gallery, London, in 1962.[1]
- Expressionist portraiture
- landscape
- London cityscapes
Works by Oskar Kokoschka
- 1972 London Views, British Landscapes Illustrated with Kokoschka's paintings of London; the book is credited to him as author in catalogue records. Introduction by Jan Tomeš; translated from German by Christine Cope. Text is also in German.
Exhibitions
- 1962 Retrospective
Awards
- 1959 Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
- 1960 Erasmus Prize (shared with Marc Chagall)