Bohuslav Kokoschka

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Bohuslav Kokoschka [ 'ko: kɔʃkɐ ] ( November 22, 1892 - January 12, 1976 in Vienna ) was an Austrian painter , graphic artist and writer . All his life he was in the shadow of his older brother Oskar Kokoschka .

life and work

Bohuslav Kokoschka was the youngest son of the traveling salesman Gustav Josef Kokoschka (1840–1923) and his wife Maria Romana, nee. Loidl (1861–1934), and the brother of the Austrian painter Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980). The ancestors on his father's side came from a Prague goldsmith family. In 1887 the family moved to Vienna; his brother Gustav died in the same year, before Bohuslav was born. He also had a sister, Berta (1889–1960).

The birth of Bohuslav Kokoschka was highly dramatic. His mother suffered a sudden birth ; only six-year-old brother Oskar was present in the apartment. The assistance during the birth is said to have traumatized little Oskar in the long term and it led to a special relationship between the two brothers. Oskar Kokoschka felt like a father to his brother. Like his older brother, Bohuslav developed an early interest in art and literature. Paintings have been documented since 1911, and literary works since 1919.

Like his older brother Oskar, Kokoschka was a painter, graphic artist and writer. His artistic ambitions were suppressed by his famous brother for most of his life. Oskar Kokoschka provided for Bohuslav's livelihood, who in return took care of his mother and sister. The relationship between the two siblings was very close throughout their lives, but was also characterized by dependency and oppression. It was not until late that Oskar encouraged the younger brother to go public with his literary work.

At the beginning of the First World War he volunteered for the Kuk Kriegsmarine and started school at the SMS Archduke Karl in the naval port of Pula in Istria . The warship took part in large-scale naval operations in the Adriatic during the World War , but had a fairly inconspicuous career. He continued his service in the naval section in Vienna in 1918. The confrontation with the reality of soldier life led to the novel Chains in the Sea , which he completed in 1919. Christa Eder describes the relationship between the two brothers as an "unusual symbiosis". In the end, Oskar financed Bohuslav's maintenance, but in return obliged him to live as a private citizen and left him with virtually all family responsibilities. For example, he had to accompany the mother to the cure or watch the father's bedside for three weeks. "Unconsciously [Oskar Kokoschka] pressed the younger man into the family glass lintel, where he should do l'art pour l'art as much as possible and remain below the public threshold."

Bohuslav Kokoschka was married, had a son and lived in Vienna until the end.

Writing work

Jüngste Tag was a series of brochures that was published from 1913 to 1921 in Leipzig (and from 1919 in Munich ) by the publisher Kurt Wolff and his editors Franz Werfel and Max Brod . It was intended to be a forum for new poetry and over time it became one of the most important publication sites for expressionist literature . The expressionist novella Adelina or Farewell to Nineteen Years of Age was first published in this series in 1920 .

In 1972 Bohuslav Kokoschka's novel Logbuch des BK was published , which he had completed shortly after the end of the First World War under the title Chains in the Sea . In the novel, he tells of his time as a sailor in the Austro-Hungarian Navy , but it is more about "a unique, authentic experience report from inside the war ... namely about life on the naval ship in question". The novel is "originally embedded in a framework story about South Slavic girls who find the manuscript," said Gerhard Strejcek in a review in the Wiener Zeitung . The book was also described as a “kaleidoscope of stories and perspectives about the multiethnic state in the Austrian narrative tradition of Joseph Roth and Heimito von Doderer ”, as a powerful and clever novel.

Bohuslav Kokoschka wrote at least two dramas. One, Go, close the door, it's pulling , was created around 1925 and was printed in an exclusive edition of 33 copies in 1926, with two illustrations by the older brother. From the second drama, hiding and cover up , a transcript can be found in the brother's estate at the Zurich Central Library . Performances are not known.

There must also be unpublished memories that seem to deal intensively with his brother and his early love affairs.

Artistic work

Only a few paintings by Bohuslav Kokoschka are known. The best-known is probably Die Geschwister , created around 1915, oil on canvas, 100 × 77 cm, framed. The picture shows the two brothers and their sister Bertha Theresia (1889–1960).

The family portrait was put up for auction on November 20, 2011. The Vienna Dorotheum estimated an estimated value of five to eight thousand euros, but lot No. 1256 achieved the highest bid and purchase price of 43,000 euros. He also painted portraits of the composer Egon Wellesz , created in 1911, and of the painter and writer Albert Paris Gütersloh , created in 1919. The latter was auctioned at Van Ham and also exceeded the estimated value of eight thousand euros many times over. It was sold for 30,000 euros.

Bohuslav Kokoschka also illustrated two books:

  • In 1920 the fairy tale The Most Beautiful Garden by Emil Alphons Rheinhardt was published with four original lithographs by the artist.
  • In 2016, six of his original graphics were published in the new edition of his novel Chains in the Sea .

We know even less about the pictorial work than about the literary work of Bohuslav Kokoschka. In 1970, parts of his artistic work were exhibited in the Museum of the 20th Century in Vienna.

The Kokoschka crypt in Hollenstein an der Ybbs

Life as a private person

It was not until 1972 that a work was published by the Ehrenwirth publishing house in Munich. An autograph of a letter to the gallery owner Rudolf Hintermaure is evidence that the publisher intended to publish another book by Buhoslav Kokoschka.

He died in Vienna and was buried in the crypt in Hollenstein an der Ybbs , which Oskar Kokoschka had built for his mother and himself. Oskar Kokoschka, however, is buried in Montreux , Switzerland.

Award

Works

Fonts
  • Adelina or the farewell to the age of nineteen. Records. Wolff, Munich 1920.
    • Contained in: Oskar Schürer: Reconciliation. Chants and Psalms. Wolff, Leipzig 1919. Facsimile edition: Scheffler, Frankfurt am Main 1970. Scheffler 1970. Reprint: Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 3-7973-0386-6 .
  • Go close the door, it's drawing. Scenes from bourgeois life. With two original etchings by Oskar Kokoschka. Johannes-Presse / Neue Galerie, Vienna 1926.
  • Conceal and cover up. Dramatic poetry (no edition proven).
  • BK Roman's logbook . Ehrenwirth, Munich 1972, ISBN 3-431-01494-1 (created 1919).
editor
  • Oskar Kokoschka: Variations on a Theme. With a foreword by Max Dvořák . Richard Lány, Vienna and Ed. Strache, Vienna, Prague, Leipzig 1921.
illustrator
  • The most beautiful garden . A fairy tale by Emil Alphons Rheinhardt , with 4 orig. Lithogr. by Bohuslav Kokoschka. Ed. Strache, Vienna, Prague, Leipzig 1921.
painting

literature

  • Memory of Bohuslav Kokoschka: Exhibition of the Oskar Kokoschka documentation in Oskar Kokoschka's birthplace in Pöchlarn; June 3 - September 17, 1978 / [Ed .: Oskar Kokoschka Documentation Pöchlarn] (not viewed)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Christa Eder and Markus Moser: Bohuslav Kokoschka: Novel "Ketten in das Meer" , Leporello , Ö1 , November 18, 2016, 7:52 am, with statements by Adolf Opel and Jorghi Poll , accessed on the day of the broadcast.
  2. ↑ On Bohuslav Kokoschka's relationship with his famous brother, see also the afterword by Adolf Opel in the new edition of the novel Chains in the Sea : From the Injustice of Later Birth: Bohuslav Kokoschka (pp. 325–341)
  3. ↑ a b Widder art trade: Bohuslav Kokoschka , accessed on November 18, 2016.
  4. ↑ a b Review of the new edition of Ketten in the Meer Wiener Zeitung, November 20, 2016
  5. ^ Conversation between Adolf Opel and Christa Eder on the radio station Ö1 Ö1, November 18, 2016
  6. ↑ Bookstore Blume: Ketten in das Meer (hardcover book) , accessed on December 15, 2016
  7. ↑ Climbing art: BOHUSLAV KOKOSCHKA, Eigh. Manuscript of Go, close the door. Around 1925 , result of the auction with facsimile of the directory of persons, accessed on November 19, 2016.
  8. ↑ Zurich Central Library : Estate of Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) painter, writer , accessed on November 19, 2016.
  9. ↑ Der Spiegel (Hamburg): Kokoschka Memoirs: Zarte Klapse , March 29, 1971, accessed on November 18, 2016.
  10. ^ Dorotheum (Vienna): Lot No. 1256: Bohuslav Kokoschka, Die Geschwister , accessed on November 18, 2016.
  11. ↑ ZVAB : auth. Letter with U. Kokoschka, Bohuslav, painter and writer (1892-1976). , accessed November 19, 2016.
  12. ↑ Eisenwurzen Nature Park: Hollenstein an der Ybbs cemetery , accessed on November 18, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Kokoschka, Bohuslav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian writer, painter and graphic artist, brother of Oskar Kokoschka
DATE OF BIRTH November 22, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH January 12, 1976
Place of death Vienna