Froehliches Osterfest (Happy Easter)

Oskar Kokoschka

1886–1980

Froehliches Osterfest (Happy Easter), circa 1906–1908

Where object was made: Austria

Material/technique: cardboard; color lithograph

Dimensions:
Plate Mark/Block Dimensions (Height x Width): 125 x 80 mm
Plate Mark/Block Dimensions (Height x Width): 4 15/16 x 3 1/8 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 140 x 90 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 14 x 11 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Helen Foresman Spencer Art Acquisition Fund

Accession number: 1989.0100

Not on display

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Label texts

Archive Label 2003:
Kokoschka’s pictures often convey political messages concerning the human condition. This lithograph, which was intended to be a postcard greeting, is not one of Kokoschka’s propagandist commentaries. It does show the artist dispensing with classical formulas of three-dimensional modeling in favor of modernist, flat colors, in order to express emotional moods.

Kokoschka participated in World War I and was seriously injured while serving with the German army in 1915. When the war was over, he taught at the Dresden art academy. When the new authoritarian regime gained control of Germany and Austria, the artist emigrated to Prague, assumed Czech citizenship, and continued to voice national tensions in paint and print. Kokoschka is best known for biting “counterpropaganda” compositions, directly blaming Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain and other world leaders for the international conflict. In 1938, when the Nazis seized Czechoslovakia, the artist emigrated to London. He did not give up protesting, even in safe exile holding British citizenship, but continued to create art with a political conscience.