Page 24 - Studio International - March 1966

The graphic Work of Oskar Kokoschka

by J. P. Hodin

As both draughtsman and graphic artist, Kokoschka has already stressed as major organs of expression, along
produced a considerable oeuvre. The largest exhibition with the face, gestures and the movement of the body.
of his graphic work formed part of the retrospective In the early years between 1907 and 1909 Kokoschka
show held under the auspices of the Osterreichische produced postcards for the Wiener Werkstätte, ex libris
Kulturvereinigung in May—July, 1958, at the Künstler- compositions, and the plates for his first book, The
haus in Vienna; listed in the catalogue under the Dreaming Youths (Die Träumenden Knaben), which
heading Watercolours and Drawings, Graphic Works was written, illustrated and designed by the artist, as
and new Prints of the Kokoschka Archive (Wolfgang well as posters for the Kunstschau. All early colour
Gurlitt) were no less than 517 items. Although the most lithographs (with the exception of the posters) belong
important works were exhibited, especially those from stylistically to a revised folk art, a trend also present in
the early years, this total is far from representing his the early work of Kandinsky and Klee.
entire graphic opus. Strangely enough, there is no com- This was not a lasting influence. One need only con-
prehensive study of this oeuvre. Although mentioned in sider Kokoschka's drawing for his play, Murderer,
general books on Kokoschka, its importance within the Hope of Women (Mörder Hoffnung der Frauen) and
David Wynne
Portrait of Oskar Kokoschka 1965 framework of his output as a painter has never been portrait drawings such as those of Adolf Loos and
Plaster specifically assessed. Karl Kraus (1909), to realize that an eruptive talent
Height 13 in.
Kokoschka started to draw in 1905, but his first was here searching for its own mode of expression.
characteristic drawings, mainly nudes of children, were Together with the drawings of variety artists (Yvette
dated 1906. At a time when, under the influence of Art Guilbert) and the portraits of the artists and writers
Nouveau (Jugendstil), ornamental quality was being connected with Der Sturm in Berlin (1910) they form
emphasized, these drawings from nature are exact in a group of works distinguished by the invention of a
their observation, economical in the application of the language of signs and graphic rhythms expressing
linear element, and simplified. The style is angular and nervous tensions, sore spots of sensitivity, and inner
shows a certain affinity to Japanese works. These dramas. In this connection one could speak of a
qualities of the 1906 drawings are completely left behind 'tattoo-style'.
in the drawings of acrobats (1907), which show a Frequently Kokoschka's graphic works have an auto-
natural and absolutely free use of the pen. The hands are biographical connotation and reveal as much about the
artist as they do about their subject matter. And since
the artist is highly imaginative and moved by mythical
allusions, there is often a connection with age-old
myths, such as the sun and moon myths in Murderer,
Hope of Women, transformed in this play into the story
of the mortality of man and the immortality of woman.
His early portraits made Kokoschka known as the
artist with an X-ray capacity for penetrating the human
mask (the persona), laying bare the 'inner face' of
man (Dürer). Man dominates his graphic art. Landscapes
rarely occur; there are, for example, some landscape
sketches from his journey to Italy before the First World
War and a few scenes from battle fields. But there are
many nature studies in crayon and pastel from the time
Illustration for of the Second World War, in which the artist tried to
'Die Träumender Knaben' keep in contact with the world of nature, and when he
(The Dreaming Youths) 1908
Lithograph in black and white embarked on theatre decorations and costume design in
the fifties it was again with coloured pencils that he
annotated his ideas.
Consider the techniques of his graphic work : there are
drawings with charcoal, pencil, pen, reed pen, com-
bined with wash ; drawings with red chalk, coloured
chalks and crayons. Of the graphic techniques,
Kokoschka prefers lithographs in black and white or in
colour to any other technique. The lithograph to him is a
drawing on stone, or, lately, on paper or plastic material.
He has rarely used the technique of engraving. The
woodcut which played such a role in the graphic opus
of Edvard Munch, or Ludwig Kirchner and other
German Expressionists, did not attract Kokoschka. It was
too slow a technique for his eruptive temperament.
The book illustrations have an obvious unity based on
the text, but Kokoschka also employed the unity of a
Nude bending forward 1907 central theme to bind together print sequences.
Pen, ink, gouache and chalk
17 3/8 x 12 1/8 in. Basically his drawings and prints represent completed