Description
The Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) achieved world fame with his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes. In this detailed biography, Rudiger Goerner masterfully depicts the multifaceted artist's life and long career. He traces Kokoschka's path from being the bugbear of the bourgeoisie and a 'hunger artist' to becoming a wealthy and cosmopolitan political and critical artist who went on to shape the European art scene of the 20th century and beyond. The great painter's works as a playwright, essayist and poet bear witness to his remarkable literary quality. Music played a central role in his work, and his passion for teaching led him to establish in 1953 the School of Seeing, an unconventional art school conceived by Kokoschka as an attempt to revive humanist ideals in the horrific aftermath of war. The life and work of Oskar Kokoschka are a reaction against the monochrome monotony of existence; Goerner's biography portrays the artist in all his fascinating and contradictory complexity.
This is the first biography of Kokoschka to be published in English for over 30 years. Oskar Kokoschka is recognised as one of the greatest Austrian painters of all time. 2020 marks the 40th anniversary of the artist's death. He lived in London, Cornwall and Scotland during and after the Second World War. His most important paintings are on display at Tate Britain.
About the Author
Rudiger Goerner works as Professor of German with Comparative Literature at the Queen Mary University of London. He is Founding Director of the Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations, and has authored many acclaimed books including biographies of Rainer Maria Rilke and the poet Georg Trakl.
Reviews
'Goerner narrates [...] in a compelling way' - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; 'With appropriately rhapsodic descriptions, Goerner shows how incredibly [...] worldly this petty bourgeois from Poechlarn has been' - Die Welt; 'An unconventional but long-awaited approach to Kokoschka's rich oeuvre. Rudiger Goerner does not restrict his considerations to the painter and his formal characteristics but rather sets Kokoschka's singular character against a social, literary and political background in a century of European turmoil. [...] Goerner sheds light on how contemporaries such as Thomas Mann and Karl Kraus viewed Kokoschka's oeuvre. This new biography is a holistic reflection on Kokoschka as a person, with his paintings and writings, his enemies and lovers, his agonies and his hopes' Catherine Hug Kunsthaus Zurichs; 'Ruidger Goerner does not separate Kokoschka's art from his life. The artist was driven, always trying to cross boundaries, be they moral, political or social. The veracity of his art was the result of these frictions never being hidden. Goerner works along the same principles, creating a convincing book and presenting the entire Oskar Kokoschka, perhaps for the first time, and leaves the reader with an unforgettable impression' Johann Konrad Eberlein, former director of the Institute of Art History at University of Graz
Book Information
ISBN 9781912208814
Author Rudiger Goerner
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Haus Publishing
Publisher Haus Publishing
This is the first biography of Kokoschka to be published in English for over 30 years. Oskar Kokoschka is recognised as one of the greatest Austrian painters of all time. 2020 marks the 40th anniversary of the artist's death. He lived in London, Cornwall and Scotland during and after the Second World War. His most important paintings are on display at Tate Britain.
About the Author
Rudiger Goerner works as Professor of German with Comparative Literature at the Queen Mary University of London. He is Founding Director of the Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations, and has authored many acclaimed books including biographies of Rainer Maria Rilke and the poet Georg Trakl.
Reviews
'Goerner narrates [...] in a compelling way' - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; 'With appropriately rhapsodic descriptions, Goerner shows how incredibly [...] worldly this petty bourgeois from Poechlarn has been' - Die Welt; 'An unconventional but long-awaited approach to Kokoschka's rich oeuvre. Rudiger Goerner does not restrict his considerations to the painter and his formal characteristics but rather sets Kokoschka's singular character against a social, literary and political background in a century of European turmoil. [...] Goerner sheds light on how contemporaries such as Thomas Mann and Karl Kraus viewed Kokoschka's oeuvre. This new biography is a holistic reflection on Kokoschka as a person, with his paintings and writings, his enemies and lovers, his agonies and his hopes' Catherine Hug Kunsthaus Zurichs; 'Ruidger Goerner does not separate Kokoschka's art from his life. The artist was driven, always trying to cross boundaries, be they moral, political or social. The veracity of his art was the result of these frictions never being hidden. Goerner works along the same principles, creating a convincing book and presenting the entire Oskar Kokoschka, perhaps for the first time, and leaves the reader with an unforgettable impression' Johann Konrad Eberlein, former director of the Institute of Art History at University of Graz
Book Information
ISBN 9781912208814
Author Rudiger Goerner
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Haus Publishing
Publisher Haus Publishing
