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Nude Boy Lying on His Back with Bent Knees (Savoyard Boy), 1912

Leopold Museum Vienna,
© Fondation Oskar Kokoschka/Bildrecht,
Vienna 2022
Black chalk and watercolor on browned packing paper
40.1×30.4 cm

Artists

  • Oskar Kokoschka

    (Pöchlarn 1886–1980 Montreux)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
As in the poster created for the 1908 Kunstschau The Cotton Picker, Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980) employed angled lines in his colored drawings. The charm of these early works on paper resides in the overly emphasized outlines of the figures and the skilled use of watercolors. The androgynous “Savoyard Boy”, hailing from a circus, posed for Kokoschka more than twenty times. The artist appears to have been fascinated by the boy’s body “floundering” between the sexes. The works produced during the sittings, such as Nude Boy Lying on His Back with Bent Knees of 1912, show Kokoschka’s attempt to sound out graphic means of expression and are testament to his development of an autonomous style.

AS, 2021

Object data

Artist/author
  • Oskar Kokoschka
Title
Nude Boy Lying on His Back with Bent Knees (Savoyard Boy)
Date
1912
Art movement
Expressionism
Category
Graphic work
Material​/technique
Black chalk and watercolor on browned packing paper
Dimensions
40.1×30.4 cm
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 4668
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: 436
Keywords
nudeman/boylying on the back with uplifted upper part of the bodybent legs

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Fannina Halle, Wien/New York (vor 1935); (1)
Rudolf Ray (Rapaport), New York (bis 1977); (2)
Auktion: 02.06.1977, Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, 222. Auktion, Los 854 (mit Abb.);
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (1977-1994); (3)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (seit 1994).

  1. Sonja Niederacher, Oskar Kokoschka. Auf dem Rücken liegender Knabenakt mit angezogenen Knien. Savoyardenknabe, 1912, Dossier vom 04.01.2016, S. 3
  2. Niederacher, Dossier, S. 7 und S. 13
  3. Alfred Weidinger / Alice Strobl, Oskar Kokoschka. Die Zeichnungen und Aquarelle. 1897-1916, Salzburg 2008, S. 310, Nr. 436
Decision of the Advisory Board (PDF)

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Search in collection

nudeman/boylying on the back with uplifted upper part of the bodybent legs