The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
Birth of a Child (Geburt eines Kindes)
1914
(Austrian, 1886–1980)
49.4 x 56 cm (19 7/16 x 22 1/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2017.102
© Fondation Oskar Kokoschka / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ProLitteris, Zürich
Catalogue raisonné: Strobl & Strobl 802
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
The large wall mural for which this painting on paper was a preparatory study was never executed because of the onset of World War I in Europe.Description
Oskar Kokoschka made this drawing as a preparatory design for a wall mural on the theme of the inevitability of death. His energetic strokes of color portray a woman giving birth aided by three female attendants. The newborn’s absence and death is relayed in the lifeless pallor of the mother. The wall painting was to have been painted within the reception hall of a new cemetery complex in Breslau, but was never constructed because of World War I.- Kokoschka, Oskar, Alfred Weidinger, and Alice Strobl. Oskar Kokoschka: die Zeichnungen und Aquarelle 1897-1916. Salzburg: Galerie Welz, 2008.Kokoschka, Oskar, Alice Strobl, and Alfred Weidinger. Oskar Kokoschka: das Frühwerk (1897/98-1917) : Zeichnungen und Aquarelle. 1994.Peters, Emily J. and Wehn, James. “Acquisition Highlights: Drawings.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 58. no. 2 (March/April 2018): 12-13. Reproduced: P. 13; Mentioned: P. 12-13.Griswold, William M. “Recent Acquisitions (2013-20) at the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Burlington Magazine 163, no. 1414 (January 2021): 93-104. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 98, no. 10
- Graphic Discontent: German Expressionism on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 14-May 27, 2018).
- {{cite web|title=Birth of a Child (Geburt eines Kindes)|url=false|author=Oskar Kokoschka|year=1914|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2017.102