Page 36 - World of Art Contemporary Art magazine: The 2023 Guggenheim issue

Oskar Kokoschka. Time, Gentlemen Please, 1971 – 1972 Oil on canvas 130 x 100
cm. Tate, purchased in 1986. © Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, 2023, VEGAP, Bilbao
FINE ART CULTURE

Oskar Kokoschka. Self-Portrait of a "Degenerate Artist” (Selbstbildnis eines
“Entarteten Künstlers”), 1937 Oil on canvas 110 x 85 cm. National Galleries
of Scotland, on loan from a private collection. © Fondation Oskar Kokoschka,
By the waning days of World War II, Kokoschka was 2023, VEGAP, Bilbao
calling for a united Europe, and his late production left
its mark on the Neue Wilde, the new painting in Austria Oskar Kokoschka. Anschluss – Alice in Wonderland (Anschluss – Alice im
and Germany. Even though he dabbled in a wide range of Wunderland), 1942 Oil on canvas 63.5 × 73.6 cm. Wiener Städtische Versicherung
AG – Vienna Insurance, Group, on permanent loan in the Leopold Museum, Vienne.
activities, from theater to political activism and writing, © Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, 2023, VEGAP, Bilbao
the common thread throughout his life was art. In this
field, he constantly reinvented himself and produced
a revolutionary body of work as a political activist,
champion of figurative art, and painter of souls. The
exhibition features more than 200 works by Kokoschka,
including paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and
photographs1. It also explores his relationships with
other influential figures of his time, such as Alma
Mahler, Adolf Loos, Karl Kraus, and Thomas Mann2.
The exhibition is organized into nine thematic sections
that span Kokoschka’s artistic development from his
early years in Vienna to his exile in London and Prague
and his final years in Switzerland1. The exhibition aims
to present Kokoschka as a rebel who challenged the
artistic conventions of his time and created a unique and
expressive style that influenced generations of artists.

34 WORLD of ART