Oskar Kokoschka: a large retrospective at the Kunsthaus Zürich in 2018

Oskar Kokoschka (1886 -1980) is regarded today as one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. Kokoschka was a man of great and diverse talents and his tempestuous life story is as fascinating as his artworks. He has fought throughout his turbulent career as a pamphleteer, playwright and painter for the freedom of the artist and the integrity of the individual.

Being ridiculed by most who saw his Self-portrait as a Warrior at the Vienna Kunstschau in 1908, executed by Kokoschka in an expressionist style for the first time, the artist was immediately declared by newspapers a "public terror," a "degenerate artist" and a "puddle of foul stink."

With the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s, Oskar Kokoschka found his art labelled "Degenerate" once again.

To demonstrate to the German people what type of art was unacceptable, the Nazis even sponsored an exhibition called "Degenerate Art" (Entartete Kunst), which opened in Munich in 1937 and toured Germany and Austria until 1941. The show included many of Kokoschka’s art works seized from German museums and collections. After the Wolrd War II, the artist estimated that the Nazis destroyed perhaps one-third of his total work.

Despite ridiculous labels put on his art works, Oskar Kokoschka believed in the inclusive power of an art far removed from state propaganda, and this strong belief is reflected in all his oeuvre. Once the artist said: "Official art is always kitsch, because it serves the anonymous customer, and thus the experience is eliminated."

The Kunsthaus Zürich, where his large retrospective will be organized in 2018, played an important role in Kokoschka’s career from an early stage. The artist is well represented in the collection, with around ten oil paintings including his masterpiece ‘Amorous Couple with a Cat' (1917).

The artist spent the last 27 years of his life in Switzerland, and large part of his artistic oeuvre is to be found in Vevey and Zurich as well as Vienna. The last Kokoschka’s retrospective in Switzerland was organized at the Kunsthaus Zürich in 1986 in commemoration of his hundredth birthday.

This year, around 150 works will cover all phases of his artistic career. The Kunsthaus Zürich will present different techniques Kokoschka used, such as oil painting, pastel, drawing, watercolour

Watercolour (it. “aquarello”, germ. “Aquarell”) is a well-known painting technique with water-based paints. It was invented in the 3rd century in China. Watercolours become transparent after dissolving in water, so when applied to grainy paper, the image looks airy and thin. Unlike oil paintings, watercolour paintings lack textured strokes. Read more

and print, as well as his plays, stage and costume designs. According to the curators of the coming retrospective, it will be high time to reacquaint both a younger generation and some long-standing admirers with the spectacular originals of this expressionistic painter and his unique brushwork.

Written on materials of the Kunsthaus Zürich, fineartmultiple.com, oskar-kokoschka.ch, MoMA, other sources. Title illustration: Oskar Kokoschka, The Red Egg, 1940 -1941. Oil on canvas, 61×76 cm. National Gallery in Prague.