OSKAR KOKOSCHKA | Dr Robert Freund II

Paul Westheim, Berlin (acquired by July 1933 when sent by him to the Kunsthaus, Zurich) Charlotte Weidler, Berlin

Margarete Schultz, Great Neck, New York

Serge Sabarsky Gallery, New York

Georg Waechter Memorial Foundation, Geneva (acquired from the above in May 1975. Sold: Sotheby's, New York, 1st May 1996, lot 8)

Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Bordeaux, Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Oskar Kokoschka, 1983, no. 27, illustrated in the catalogue Vevey, Musée Jenisch, Hommage à Oskar Kokoschka, 1984, no. 17

Gent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten & Liège, Salle Saint-Georges, Oskar Kokoschka, 1987, no. 33, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Hans Maria Wingler, Oskar Kokoschka, The Work of the Painter, Salzburg, 1958, no. 254, listed p. 320 (described as 'probably destroyed') Paul Westheim, 'Erinnerung an eine Sammlung', in Kunstwerk, vol. 5-6, 1960, mentioned n.p.

Johann Winkler & Katherina Erling, Oskar Kokoschka, Die Gemälde, Salzburg, 1995, no. 269, mentioned p. 6

Christina Feilchenfeldt, '...meine Bilder zerschneidet man schon in Wien'. Das Porträt des Verlegers Robert Freund von Oskar Kokoschka', in Uwe Fleckner (ed.), Das verfemte Meisterwerk. Schicksalswege moderner Kunst im 'Dritten Reich', Berlin, 2009, mentioned pp. 259-279

Stephan Koldehoff, Die Bilder sind unter uns. Das Geschäft mit der NS-Raubkunst, Frankfurt am Main, 2009, mentioned pp. 42 & 52

Melissa Müller & Monika Tatzkow, Verlorene Bilder, Verlorene Leben. Jüdische Sammler und was aus ihren Kunstwerken wurde, Munich, 2009, illustrated in colour p. 35

Ines Rotermund-Reynard, 'Erinnerung an eine Sammlung. Zu Geschichte und Verbleib der Kunstsammlung Paul Westheims', in Claus-Dieter Krohn (ed.), Gedächtnis des Exils. Formen der Erinnerung, Munich, 2010, mentioned pp. 151-193

Werkkatalog der Gemälde von Oskar Kokoschka, Online-Katalog, www.oskar-kokoschka.ch, no. 1932/1, illustrated in colour

Dr Robert Freund II is a wonderful example of Oskar Kokoschka’s famously emotionally intense and psychologically charged portraiture. From the outset, Kokoschka’s handling of this genre broke with convention in almost every respect. Most importantly, he wanted to bring to the surface what was invisible to the naked eye and would do so by depicting the sitter in their natural surroundings. He engaged the subject in conversation throughout the session to capture their gestures and movements in a realistic and expressive way. This is particularly evident in the current work where the sitter’s hand is drawn to his forehead as if in mid-speech or thought. To the artist, this was a far more direct and telling way of capturing a sitter’s personality and their emotions than using attributes such as dress or background to communicate their social or professional background. The present work is the second of two portraits painted of Dr Robert Freund (fig. 1), a German publisher and personal friend of Oskar Kokoschka. In 1926, Freund became an associate of the Piper Publishing House in Munich which published reproductions of both Old Master paintings and Modern Art. It particularly focused on the publication of German avant-garde artists, most famously the Der Blaue Reiter almanac edited by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc in 1912. Fluent in both English and French, Freund had a lasting impact on the publishing house and expanded its repertoire to include prominent international authors such as Marcel Proust and Somerset Maugham.

With the rise of National Socialism and as a Czech national of Jewish descent, Freund’s time at Piper came to a premature end in 1936. He moved to Vienna to head the newly founded Bastei Publishing House, again producing titles with an emphasis on art and culture. Inevitably, Freund was unable to continue his work in Austria and Bastei Publishing ceased operation following the Anschluss in 1938. Robert Freund travelled to Switzerland via Paris and ultimately emigrated to New York in 1941 where he founded the Twin Editions Fine Art Publishers. He passed away in New York in 1952. 

An earlier portrait of the sitter painted in 1909 was displayed as early as 1910 in the gallery of Paul Cassirer in Berlin as one of the first publicly exhibited works by the artist. In 1938 the painting was cut into four individual pieces by the Gestapo in Vienna. That same year, the fragments travelled to Prague and London where they were exhibited in the Twentieth Century German Art show at Burlington Galleries. In 1941 the painting travelled to America with Freund and was subsequently exhibited in Otto Kallir’s newly established Galerie St. Etienne. In 1949 the fragments were re-assembled and the painting was re-worked and monogrammed by the artist (fig. 2).

This painting was the subject of a settlement executed in 1974 between Paul Westheim’s widow and Charlotte Weidler that released the work from any claim arising from its movements in the WWII period.