Lot 21
  • 21

Oskar Kokoschka

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Description

  • Oskar Kokoschka
  • LONDON, RICHMOND TERRACE
  • Signed with the initials O.K. (lower left)
  • Oil on canvas
  • 35 by 51 1/8 in. (89 by 129.8 cm)

Provenance

Galerie Paul Cassirer, Berlin and Galerie M. Goldschmidt & Co., Frankfurt-am-Main (acquired from the artist on August 10, 1926)

Viktor von Klemperer, Dresden (acquired on November 23, 1926)

Dr. Hanspeter Gysin, Kirchdorf and Bern (by inheritance from the above circa 1938 and until at least 1986)

Private Collection, Switzerland (sold: Christie's, London, June 24, 1991, lot 22)

Exhibited

Dresden, Staatliche Gemäldegalerie, Werke deutscher Künstler, Ausstellung der Akademie Dresden, 1927, no. 152

London, Leicester Galleries, Kokoschka Exhibition, 1928, no. 1

Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Exposition Oskar Kokoschka, 1931, no. 25

Vienna, Oesterreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie, Oskar Kokoschka, 1937, no. 18 (as dating from 1929)

Basel, Kunsthalle, Oksar Kokoschka, 1947, no. 141

Munich, Haus der Kunst, Oskar Kokoschka, 1950, no. 61

Bern, Kunsthalle, Europäische Kunst aus Berner Privatbesitz, 1953, no. 69

Munich, Haus der Kunst, Oskar Kokoschka, 1958, no. 81

Vienna, Künstlerhaus, Oskar Kokoschka, 1958, no. 77

Essen, Museum Folkwang, Dem widereröffneten Museum Folkwang zum Gruß, 1960

London, Tate Gallery, Oksar Kokoschka, 1962, no. 96

Zürich, Kunsthaus, Oskar Kokoschka, 1966, no. 60

London, Tate Gallery; Zürich, Kunsthaus; New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Oskar Kokoschka 1886-1980, 1986, no. 65 (no. 67 in Zürich)

Literature

Paul Schumann, ''Ausstellung der Akademie zu Dresden,'' Der Kunst, Munich, 1927, illustrated p. 355

Das Kunstblatt 12, Berlin, 1928, illustrated p. 195

Georg Biermann, Kokoschka, Leipzig and Berlin, 1929, illustrated p. 24

Moderne Malerei vom Impressionismus bis zur Gegenwart, Hamburg, 1933, illustrated

Edith Hoffmann, Kokoschka, Life and Work, London, 1947, no. 208, catalogued p. 323

Paul Westheim, Oskar Kokoschka: Landschaften, Zürich, 1948, illustrated p. 1

MIchelangelo Masciotta, Kokoschka, Florence, 1949, illustrated pl. XX

Hans M. Wingler, Oskar Kokoschka, Salzburg, 1951, vol. I, illustrated p. 9

Hans M. Wingler, Oskar Kokoschka, Das Werk des Malers, Salzburg, 1956, illustrated p. 55

Hans M. Wingler, Kokoschka-Fibel, Salzburg, 1957, illustrated

Hans M. Wingler, Oskar Kokoschka, The Work of the Painter, Salzburg, 1958, no. 218, illustrated pl. XII

Bernhard Bultmann, Oskar Kokoschka, Salzburg, 1960, no. 20, illustrated. p. 84

Ludwig Goldscheider, Kokoschka, Cologne, 1963, illustrated p. 73

Joseph P. Hodin, Oskar Kokoschka, The artist and his time, New York, 1966, illustrated p. 176

Joseph P. Hodin, Oksar Kokoschka, Sein Leben, Berlin and Mainz, 1968, illustrated p. 259

Giuseppe Gatt, Kokoschka, Florence, 1970, no. 27, illustrated

Jan M. Tomes, Oskar Kokoschka, London, 1972, illustrated p. 37

Smaranda Rosu, Kokoschka, Bucharest, 1976, illustrated p. 38

Du. Die Kunstzeitschrift, Zürich, 1981, illustrated p. 56

G. Koller and Oswald Oberhuber, Oskar Kokoschka Städteportraits, Vienna and Munich, 1986, p. 186

Oskar Kokoschka, Städtebilder und Landschaften, Munich and Zürich, 1990, illustrated p. 9

Johann Winkler and Katharina Erling, Oskar Kokoschka, Die Gëmalde, 1906-1929, Salzburg, 1995, no. 230, illustrated p. 131

Kokoschka und Dresden (exhibition catalogue), Staatiche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie Neue Meister, Dresden; Östereichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, 1996, discussed p. 83

Catalogue Note

Kokoschka painted this view of Richmond-upon-Thames while he was living in London in 1926. The artist had come to England for the first time in 1925 during a whirlwind trip around Europe which had been financed by the dealer, Paul Cassirer. Cassirer had encouraged him to paint landscapes, recognizing the young artist's remarkable talent for capturing the dramatic effects of light and space. When he arrived in England, Kokoschka was particularly impressed with the scenery, and in 1926 he took up residence in a well-appointed house in Park Lane. Later he moved to the Savoy Hotel, where he painted the views of Waterloo Bridge (see fig. 2) and the Thames. Kokoschka enjoyed his life in London, and, according to his friend Dr. Lütjens, he would often go early in the morning to the Zoo in Regent's Park. Occassionally, he made excursions to Dover and Richmond, where the owner of a private home permitted him to paint the present picture.

 

Richmond is a borough of London that overlooks the Thames, which can be seen in the background of the composition with its sharp S-shaped bend. To the right of the river are the houses of Twickenham, and in the foreground, the artist depicts the activities of the leisure class as they enjoy the summer afternoon. A flight of steps connects the garden to the road, which is connected to the river by a small path to the right of the street lamp. The artist's biographer, Edith Hoffmann, described its visual effect, comparing it to pictures of Dresden completed in the early 1920s (see fig. 3): "Richmond Terrace belongs in mood and style to the same kind of pictures as Kokoschka's [...] Dresden period: it seems equally serene and light-hearted, painted for relaxation and sheer pleasure. Yet it gives further evidence of Kokoschka's mastery. The view over the green plain, extending from the Terrace to the distant city, contains neither architectural nor natural features that would form an obvious centre of interest for the composition; yet the painting, with its huge trees in the foreground and the river winding gently through the valley, is entirely satisfying" (Edith Hoffmann, Kokoschka, Life and Work, London, 1947, p. 187).

 

For this picture, the artist uses a palette that is dominated by varying shades of blue. According to Hans M. Wingler, this choice of color indicates a significant development in the artist's approach to painting: "Here and there, particularly in the pictures painted about 1926, a royal cobalt blue flames up, absorbing the individual brush stroke and dominating in the whole scheme of colour, as for example, it does in Richmond Terrace [....] Blue is definitely Kokoschka's favourite colour, and one whose favours he woos most assiduously, although it is by no means always the dominant colour in the picture. His productivity in the years 1925 and 1926 rose to a fantastically high peak; in those two years he painted more than forty pictures. His new visual experiences, the flood of impressions pouring in upon him, electrified him. He was in breathless haste to realise them so as to leave himself receptive to the new wonders that stormed in upon him from every side, and these impressions were so bewildering, so moving that at first he was unable even to think of attempting a reform of his network technique. It was not until his stay in London in 1926 that he was able to find the inner tranquillity necessary for reflection" (Hans M. Wingler, Oskar Kokoschka, The Work of the Painter, Salzburg, 1958, p. 56).

 

London, Richmond Terrace was once in the collection of Viktor von Klemperer, director of the Dresdener Bank throughout the 1920s and 1930s. This picture hung in von Klemperer's home in Dresden for several years before he emigrated to Rhodesia in 1938. At that time, a large part of von Klemperer's collection was seized by the German army and put into state custody. This picture, however, was taken into Switzerland for safekeeping by von Klemperer's son-in-law, Dr. Hanspeter Gysin, who kept it in his collection until the late 1980s.

 

Comparables:

Fig. 1, Photograph of the artist in London in 1926.

Fig. 2, Oskar Kokoschka, London, Waterloo Bridge, 1926, oil on canvas, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

Fig. 3, Oskar Kokoschka, Dresden, Neustadt, II, 1921, oil on canvas, Detroit Institute of Arts