Portrait of Young Man in Red Cap, c. 1928

Marie-Louise von Motesiczky (1906–1996) hailed from a very wealthy Jewish family on her mother’s side and from an aristocratic one on her father’s side. In 1923, aged 14, she met Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980) at her parents’ house in Hinterbrühl, along with the Expressionist painter Max Beckmann (1884–1950, who was 22 years her senior. From 1927, she attended the latter’s masterclass at the Städelschule in Frankfurt. Beckmann would remain her mentor and good friend all her life. Following the annexation of Austria in 1938, Motesiczky and her mother were forced to emigrate. The painting Portrait of a Young man with Red Cap was created around 1928 and is among the artist’s early works. The narrow format, which she often used during this time, shows a young man wearing a fez. Painted with a thick brush, the work boasts dark contours and still reveals her proximity to her teacher Beckmann not least on account of these pronounced outlines.

EF, 2021