Cotton picker

Details

Published by Internationale Kunstschau, Vienna.
Winger/Welz 30.

Literature (selection):

Spielmann H., Oskar Kokoschka, in: Sabarsky, S., Malerei des deutschen Expressionismus, Stuttgart 1987, p. 124, with b/w illus. p. 116;

Spielmann, H, Oskar Kokoschka, in Sabarsky, S., La Peinture Expressioniste Allemand, Paris 1990, p. 116, with b/w illus. p. 116.

Exhibition:

Gustav Klimt: 1862-1918, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn/New York 1989, cat. no. 179;

Gustav Klimt, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence 1991/92, cat. no. 118;

Oskar Kokoschka: The Early Years, Ulmer Museum, Ulm and others 1994/95 and 1997, various cat. numbers (52, 60 and 47).

Klimt Schiele Kokoschka, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, 1995, cat. no. 172;

Gallery Jahrhunderthalle, Hoechst 1997;

Sécession. L’Art Graphique à Vienne autour de 1900, Musée-Galerie de la Seita, Paris 1999, cat. no. 28;

Selections from the Permanent Collection and Focus: Oskar Kokoschka, Neue Galerie, New York 2009;

Neue Galerie, New York 2009/10;

Neue Galerie, New York 2017/18.

Provenance:

Collection/Estate Serge Sabarsky, New York;

Collection/Foundation Vally Sabarsky, New York.

Description

– Poster for the art show in Vienna in 1908, one of the first important exhibitions in which Kokoschka participated

– The angular outlines and large areas of colour as well as the typeface are characteristic of Viennese poster art

– The work marks the transition in Kokoschka’s art between his Art Nouveau and Expressionist phases

In 1908, Oskar Kokoschka accepted an invitation from Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann to design the poster for the art exhibition taking place in Vienna that year. Although still modelled on Klimt, the young artist’s depiction appears much more radical: the elongated limbs could be described as almost Mannerist. Nevertheless, the angular outlines, the large areas of colour and a font that matches the style are characteristic of Viennese poster art, to which a separate room is dedicated in the show. Whether the plant that the girl is picking is cotton blossoms or grapevines is disputed. His fellow student at the School of Arts and Crafts, Rudolf Kalvach, also designed a poster for the art show, which shows some stylistic parallels to Kokoschka’s work.

The art show in Vienna in the summer of 1908 was the first major exhibition in which Kokoschka took part.