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Study for the painting Lovers with Cat, 1917

Leopold Museum Vienna,
© Fondation Oskar Kokoschka/Bildrecht,
Vienna 2022
India ink and watercolor on paper
32.1×43 cm

Artists

  • Oskar Kokoschka

    (Pöchlarn 1886–1980 Montreux)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
The work Lovers with Cat by Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980) is one of the few paintings which the artist prepared by means of a sketch. Created in 1917 at the inn Felsenburg near Dresden – where Kokoschka lived together with a group of pacifists following his stay in a sanatorium – the work shows the actress Käthe Richter (1886–1980) and the writer Walter Hasenclever (1910–1940). Richter was not only the artist’s partner but also played several parts in his plays staged in 1917 at the Albert-Theater. Kokoschka modeled the depicted using powerful, swiftly placed brushstrokes and embedded the scene into nature. The selection of bright colors for this work was characteristic for his Dresden period and heralded a new phase in Kokoschka’s stylistic development.

AS, 2021

Object data

Artist/author
  • Oskar Kokoschka
Title
Study for the painting Lovers with Cat
Date
1917
Art movement
Expressionism
Category
Graphic work
Material​/technique
India ink and watercolor on paper
Dimensions
32.1×43 cm
Signature
Monogrammed lower right: OK
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 2522
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).
  • 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).
Keywords
man/boywoman/girlcouple of loverscatNature

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Folkwang Museum, Essen (vor 1929-1937);
1937 als “entartete Kunst” beschlagnahmt;
Galerie Wolfgang Gurlitt, München (vor 1958);
Mr. und Mrs. Albert Weigel, New York (vor 1975); (1)
Nachlass Fritz Katz (o.D.);
Auktion: 19.11.1986, Sotheby’s New York, Impressionist and Modern Drawings and Watercolors (Sale 5512), lot 95
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (1986-1994); (2)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (1994).

  1. Sonja Niederacher, Oskar Kokoschka. Studie zum Gemälde „Liebespaar mit Katze“, 1917, Dossier vom 04.01.2016, S. 21-24
  2. Archiv des Leopold Museums, Fax von Mag. Andrea Jungmann (Sotheby’s Wien) an Mag. Gabriele Simak (LMPS) vom 21.12.2000
Decision of the Advisory Board (PDF)

For provenance related information, please contact us.

Search in collection

man/boywoman/girlcouple of loverscatNature