Oskar Kokoschka

• Reference:GB 2610 GMA A68
• Dates of Creation:1940s
• Physical Description:
  2 items (1 box) = 0.2 linear metres

• Scope and Content

  2 x war time sketchbooks, the Portwilliam sketchbook and the Elrig sketchbook executed in Scotland during the Second World War; containing coloured pencil drawings (2 items)

• Administrative / Biographical History

  Oskar Kokoschka was born in Pochlam in Austria in 1886. A painter, printmaker and writer, he is best known for his expressionistic portraits and landscapes. His early career was marked by portraits of the Viennese upper classes. After being invalided for both physical and mental reasons in the First World War, he began travelling across Europe, painting landscapes. His intense love affair with Alma Mahler resulted in works such as 'The Tempest (Bride of the Wind)'. Although he maintained his independence from German Expressionism, his work can be considered a supreme example of the style. Declared a degenerate artist by the Nazis, Kokoschka fled Austria in 1934 for Prague. There, he founded the 'Oskar-Kokoschka-Bund' with a number of other exiled artists. He fled to Britain in 1938, where he remained for the duration of the war. He travelled to the USA briefly in 1947, before settling permanently in Switzerland. He also published a memoir, 'A Sea Ringed with Visions'. Kokoschka died in 1980.

• Access Information

  The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Archives and Special Collections are open Monday - Friday, 10.00 - 1.00 and 2.00 - 4.30 by appointment only. Please contact Modern2ReadingRoom@nationalgalleries.org to arrange a time to visit. As we are a small team, we request that you get in touch 1 – 2 weeks before you intend to visit so that we can check availability.

• Conditions Governing Use

  All material is subject to copyright restrictions. Requests to reproduce original material should be made to the National Galleries of Scotland’s Image Licensing team (https://www.nationalgalleries.org/copyright-image-licensing)

• Custodial History

  Presented by Mrs. Olda Kokoschka 1994

• Related Material

  The SNGMA Collection holds work by Kokoschka; see also GMA A33/3/AB/0380 Kokoschka: 'Die traumenden Knaben', 1917