Skip to content
ONLINECOLLECTION
Search

Karl Kraus. Page from the Portfolio Menschenköpfe [Human Heads], 1916

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Lithograph on paper
42×30.3 cm

Artists

  • Oskar Kokoschka

    (Pöchlarn 1886–1980 Montreux)

  • Verlag der Sturm / Berlin
Unfortunately not on display at the moment
In 1916, Herwarth Walden’s (1878−1941) publishing company Der Sturm issued the portfolio Menschenköpfe [Human Heads], containing 15 etchings based on drawings by Oskar Kokoschka, some of which had also been reproduced in Walden’s magazine of the same name. The portraits show the protagonists of Modernism as well as loyal companions of the artist.
Oskar Kokoschka had created this portrait of Karl Kraus in India ink as early as 1909. The writer, satirist and language critic Kraus (1874–1936) started the magazine Die Fackel in Vienna in 1899, which became a model for Herwarth Walden’s magazine Der Sturm. Kokoschka’s portrait of Kraus is remarkable for its swiftly executed brushstrokes and the gestures of the scholar, practically bursting with dynamics. In addition to this graphic portrait, Kokoschka also painted Kraus twice in oil on canvas (1909 and 1925).

AS, 2023

Object data

Artist/author
  • Oskar Kokoschka
  • Verlag der Sturm / Berlin
Title
Karl Kraus. Page from the Portfolio Menschenköpfe [Human Heads]
Date
1916
Art movement
Expressionism
Category
Graphic work
Material​/technique
Lithograph on paper
Dimensions
42×30.3 cm
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 6578 10
Inventory access
Accession 2021
Selection of Reference works
  • Max Oppenheimer. Expressionist der ersten Stunde, hrsg. von Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Wien 2023 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, 06.10.2023 –25.02.2024).
  • 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
  • Zeichnung/Sketch: Weidinger/Strobl 2008: 306
Keywords
man/boyportraitDer Sturmhead slanting to the righteyeglassesposture and gestures of arms/hands (fem.)

If you have further information on this object, please contact us.

Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Auktion: 07.05.2021, Dorotheum Wien, Druckgrafik und Editionen, Los Nr. 33; (1)
Leopold Museum-Privatsiftung, Wien (seit 2021)

  1. Archiv des Leopold Museums, Rechnung vom 07.05.2021

For provenance related information, please contact us.

Search in collection

man/boyportraitDer Sturmhead slanting to the righteyeglassesposture and gestures of arms/hands (fem.)

2023/2024 Partial funding for digitization by the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport „Kulturerbe digital“ as part of NextGenerationEU.