Oskar Kokoschka's photolithograph «Die Schiffer rufen»

Oskar Kokoschka's photolithograph «Die Schiffer rufen»

Oskar Kokoschka (1894-1980) was an Austrian expressionist artist, important for his relationship with the Vienna Secession and his apprenticeship with Gustav Klimt, but also for his rejection of «Jugendstil», drawing congruences with the Expressionist turn of his peers, as Egon Schiele. Kokoschka is one of the longest-lived artists born in the 19th century, and is also known for his historic romance with Alma Mahler, widow of the composer Gustav Mahler. He would only die in the 1980s, after a long career as a painter, draftsman, playwright, poet, teacher and designer. His works Die Windsbraut and the decorations for Cabaret Fledermaus stand out.

Oskar Kokoschka’s book Die träumenden Knaben (The dreaming boys) was the first graphic work by the Austrian artist, made when he was only 21 years old. The book was commissioned in 1907 by the Director of the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna workshops), Fritz Wärndorfer, who had asked Kokoschka to design colour images for a children’s book. However, Kokoschka went beyond the brief and also wrote the story for Die träumenden Knaben, which was not so much a children’s tale as an autobiographical adolescent fantasy.

The sensual story is set in a fertile exotic landscape with vivid descriptions of smells and sounds, as well as the narrator’s physical sensations and dreamlike visions, concluding with an imaginary encounter with a young woman. In his autobiography Kokoschka wrote of Die träumenden Knaben:

«I chose the title because the book was a kind of record, in words and pictures, of my own state of mind at the time. I was in love with the heroine, the girl Li ‘from the lost bird-forests of the north’, in real life a young Swedish girl called Lilith who attended the Kunstgewerbeschule [School of Arts and Crafts, Vienna], and wore a red peasant-weave skirt such as people were not used to seeing in Vienna. Red is my favourite colour and the book was my first love letter.»

Kokoschka was influenced by various traditions and particular artists when he designed the book. The simultaneous depiction of various moments in one image is reminiscent of medieval art, and the bold lines and bright colours of his compositions draw on traditional European folk art. The shadowless forms and stylised surface decoration reflect Jugendstil aesthetics, while the angular figures of the adolescent boy (Kokoschka) and girl (Li) on the last page – illustrated here – are inspired by the sculptures of the Belgian artist George Minne, as Kokoschka himself explained. All of these elements are integrated into a coherent and truly original artist’s book, which is prefaced with a dedication to Gustav Klimt, who had been one of Kokoschka’s teachers at the Kunstgewerbeschule.

Although it was not a great success at the time of its publication, the book is now considered as one of the most beautiful art books of the twentieth century, and it is generally recognised as foreshadowing Expressionist art.

«Die Schiffer rufen» (The Sailors Are Calling)

Signed in plate

This photolithograph was made with the permission of Oskar himself while he was still alive, in 1968, and are therefore a true treasure for all lovers of his art and, above all, for all Lovers who see themselves in these passionate desires of youth that most probably still senses.

Dimensioni:

22.3 x 24 cm