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Ex Libris Lotte Franzos, c. 1956 (?)

Leopold Museum Vienna,
© Fondation Oskar Kokoschka/Bildrecht,
Vienna 2022
Lithograph on paper
7.8×8.8 cm

Artists

  • Oskar Kokoschka

    (Pöchlarn 1886–1980 Montreux)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
Lotte Franzos (1881–1957) was among the earliest patrons of the young Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980). In 1904 she married the lawyer Emil Franzos, and the culturally active couple’s home became a meeting place for Viennese celebrities. Kokoschka created not only this ex libris for Franzos – who herself had studied art history and draftsmanship – but also a painting, a drawing and a fan. Only one of several drafts created in 1911 for the ex libiris was reproduced as an etching from the ink drawing. The depiction shows a man with Kokoschka’s features cowering on the floor, who clutches a torch in his right hand. Kokoschka embodies the figure of Thanatos, the God of Death. The work’s melancholy atmosphere can be ascribed to Kokoschka’s perceived rejection by Viennese society, which he felt treated him like an outcast.

AS, 2021

Object data

Artist/author
  • Oskar Kokoschka
Title
Ex Libris Lotte Franzos
Date
c. 1956 (?)
Art movement
Expressionism
Category
Graphic work
Material​/technique
Lithograph on paper
Dimensions
7.8×8.8 cm
Signature
Monogrammed in the depiction lower left: OK
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 2427
Inventory access
Contributed to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994
Selection of Reference works
  • Wien 1900. Aufbruch in die Moderne, hrsg. von Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Wien 2019 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, ab 15.03.2019).
  • Oskar Kokoschka. Expressionist, Migrant, Europäer, hrsg. von Cathérine Hug/Heike Eipeldauer, Heidelberg 2018 (Ausst.-Kat. Kunsthaus Zürich, 14.12.2018–10.03.2019; Leopold Museum, Wien, 06.04.2019–08.07.2019).
  • Kokoschka. Das Ich im Brennpunkt, hrsg. von Tobias G. Natter/Franz Smola, Wien 2013 (Ausst. Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, 04.10.2013–27.01.2014).
  • Alfred Weidinger/Alice Strobl: Oskar Kokoschka. Die Zeichnungen und Aquarelle 1897–1916, Salzburg 2008.
  • Die nackte Wahrheit. Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka und andere Skandale, hrsg. von Tobias G. Natter/Max Hollein, München 2005 (Ausst.-Kat. Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 28.01.2005-24.01.2005; Leopold Museum, Wien, 31.05.2005-22.08.2005).
Catalogue raisonne
  • Weidinger/Strobl 2008: 371
Keywords
man/boydeathhuddled figureFowltorchLotte Franzos

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

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Search in collection

man/boydeathhuddled figureFowltorchLotte Franzos