Oskar KOKOSCHKA

1886–1980, Austria/Switzerland

Also known as: OK

Signature proven counterfeit

Details

Police Authority Stockholm City

Verdict of guilty 0201-K222877-07

English Swedish

Oil on board, signed with monogram "OK". The painting was seized by police in a major auction house in Stockholm in August 2007. According to the auction house a receipt stated Mr. M.Sz. be the submitter and owner of the painting. A folder with provenance documents turned out, on examination, contain manipulated documents. Among others from the National Museum, which states that the painting has undergone a study stating that it is a genuine Oscar Kokoschka painted 1917. In a document, dated June 2002, signed by "IP" Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest recommends he a restoration since the authenticity become certified. And another document from the National Museum in Stockholm declares that the painting is a self portrait of Oscar Kokoschka lying in the hospital bed in 1917. In addition, documents which Mr. M.Sz. gives Mr. H. I. sales mission to find potential buyers for the painting. The painting had earlier in 2006 been presented at both Uppsala Auktionskammare and Stockholms Auktionsverk who refused to sell the painting because of doubts about its authenticity. Bukowski's in Stockholm engages prof. Dr.. Alfred Weidinger for expertifiering of Oscar Kokoschka. He stated that he had seen the painting before, and it is definitely not an Oscar Kokoschka. The painting is also examined by dr. Iris Muller Westerman, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, which shows that the painting is a forgery. The District Court's assessment: The painting is not an original work of Oscar Kokoschka nor signed by him. The crime is serious fraud with intent to lull prospective buyers that this is a genuine work of Oscar Kokoschka. Criminal sanctions, one year in prison.

1951

Signature considered genuine

1957

Signature considered genuine

1958

Signature considered genuine

1960

Signature considered genuine

1963

Signature considered genuine

Ca.1973

Signature considered genuine

Name Oskar KOKOSCHKA

Birth 1886, Austria

Died 1980, Switzerland

English

Oskar Kokoschka biography:

Kokoschka was born in Pöchlarn but grew up in Vienna. Thanks to the intercession of Carl Otto Czeschka (1878-1960), Kokoschka was allowed to study at the arts school where he stayed from 1905 until 1909. He moved to Berlin in 1910 where he illustrated the expressionist magazine Der Sturm and had a huge exhibition in Paul Cassirer’s gallery. Back in Vienna, he met Alma Mahler, yet when their tumultuous affair ended, Kokoschka voluntarily joined the military service. He got injured and spent the rest of the war as a war painter. He was named a professor in Dresden in 1919 and stayed there until 1924. With the beginning of the Nazi regime, Kokoschka had to flee to Prague after he was named, „The most degenerated amongst the degenerated“, and, “Hitler’s artistic enemy No. 1”. TheOskar Kokoschka Bund was founded in Prague with the aim of contradicting the ‘artistic’ machinations of the National Socialists and to support Kokoschka. In 1938, Kokoschka fled to England and became a British citizen in 1946 (he only re-accepted the Austrian citizenship in 1975). He founded the Schule des Sehens, an international fine arts summer academy in Salzburg and moved to Switzerland in 1953. Kokoschka participated in the documenta I, II and III and received many honors and awards. Regular exhibitions are held in his birthplace in Pöchlarn. Paintings by Kokoschka are today in the most important museums for modern art in Austria and Germany, but also in the National Gallery of Scotland and the National Gallery in Prague as well as in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Source: http://auctionata.com/