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Self-Portrait, One Hand Touching the Face, 1918/19

Leopold Museum,
Vienna © Fondation Oskar Kokoschka/Bildrecht,
Vienna 2022
Oil on canvas
83.6×62.7 cm

Artists

  • Oskar Kokoschka

    (Pöchlarn 1886–1980 Montreux)

Currently on display at OG3
During his military service on the Isonzo front, Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980) suffered a war trauma in August of 1916 – a condition known as “shell shock” that necessitated an extended stay in a Dresden sanatorium. Having received a professorship at the Dresden Academy in 1919, it was in the Saxon metropolis that he created this expressive self-portrait, among other works. The work is a vivid autobiographical document of Kokoschka’s mental state during his first years in Dresden, which were shaped by fears, inner turmoil and anxiety. Kokoschka depicted himself with a quizzical expression and an ambivalent posture conveying both rejection and affection. The hand placed on the mouth symbolizes self-doubt and speechlessness in the face of the tragic events of World War I.

Text Leopold Museum

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Object data

Artist/author
  • Oskar Kokoschka
Title
Self-Portrait, One Hand Touching the Face
Date
1918/19
Art movement
Expressionism
Category
Painting
Material​/technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
83.6×62.7 cm
Signature
Monogrammed upper left: OK
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 623
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).
  • Wien 1900. Sammlung Leopold, hrsg. von Diethard Leopold/Peter Weinhäupl, Wien u.a. 2009.
  • 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).
  • Johann Winkler/Katharina Erling: Oskar Kokoschka. Die Gemälde 1906–1929, Salzburg 1995.
  • Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, Werkkatalog der Gemälde von Oskar Kokoschka, https://www.oskar-kokoschka.ch/de/1020/Online-Werkkatalog.
Catalogue raisonne
  • Winkler/Erling 1995: 134
  • oskar-kokoschka.ch: 1918/4
Keywords
man/boyself-portraitself-portrait of artisthand(s) towards the mouthdoubtNature

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Justo de la Espriella, Wiesbaden / später Kolumbien (ab 1923);
Justo Bogislav de la Espriella, Kolumbien (o.D.);
Auktion: 28.06.1978, Sotheby´s, London, Important Impressionist and Modern Paintings and Sculpture, lot 46; (1)
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (1978-1994); (2)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (1994).

  1. Michael Wladika, Oskar Kokoschka. Selbstbildnis, eine Hand ans Gesicht gelegt, 1918/19, Dossier vom 31.01.2017 mit Nachtrag vom 01.12.2017.
  2. Auskunft von Sotheby´s Wien (Fax von Andrea Jungmann vom 19.05.2000): Ankauf bei Sotheby´s London durch Dr. Rudolf Leopold; Palazzo Venezia, Katalog zu „Oskar Kokoschka. 1886-1980“, Rom 1981, S. 128.

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Search in collection

man/boyself-portraitself-portrait of artisthand(s) towards the mouthdoubtNature