Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820 – 1950

Regional historian Stanislav Burachovič aptly described Karlovy Vary as the smallest metropolis in the world, a city whose inhabitants were engaged primarily in the spa trade and commerce. There was little room here for art of truly world-class distinction. In the first half of the twentieth century, however, the city was home to a number of cultivated individuals with broad cultural vision, who devoted themselves, among other things, to developing the city's exhibition life. One such figure was Walter Serner – born Walter Eduard Seligmann, son of the local newspaper publisher of the Karlsbader Zeitung – who would go on to become a significant co-founder of Dadaism, as well as a writer, critic, journalist, lawyer, and traveller.

Serner studied law in Vienna, where he met the slightly older Kokoschka. This connection once again confirmed that Karlovy Vary was, in a sense, closer to Vienna than to Prague. Cultural exchange flowed far more readily with German and Austrian centres, such as Vienna and Munich, than with Czech ones. Serner was captivated by Kokoschka's work and became the driving force behind a comprehensive exhibition of his paintings in Karlovy Vary. [Hlaváček 2007]

At the time, the city possessed no building designated for exhibition purposes. It had been decided to build a municipal gallery (Kunsthalle), though it did not open until 1912. The exhibition therefore took place in the Café Schönbrunn, where two rooms were dedicated to the paintings. This was a pleasantly situated building at the foot of a wooded hillside at the far end of the spa promenade, on the site where the Hotel Richmond stands today. It was no coincidence that the exhibition ran from July through August, during the height of the spa season, to ensure higher attendance. As mentioned earlier, the citizens of Karlovy Vary, with honourable exceptions, showed little interest in the fine arts.

The opening address was delivered by Walter Serner. He expressed his admiration for Kokoschka's work and mentioned two notable figures connected to Karlovy Vary. The first was the art historian Richard Muther (1860–1909), who visited the spa on several occasions – not only for health reasons, but also because he was friends with the local collector Arthur Maier. The second was the Viennese painter and art dealer Carl Moll, director of the Galerie Miethke, of which Arthur Maier was a patron. Through this gallery, Maier acquired the famous Goya portrait now held in the collection of the National Gallery in Prague (Portrait of Don Miguel de Lardizábal), and his collection included one work by Moll as well, today untraced.

The exhibition featured twenty-nine paintings, most of them portraits from the years 1909–1911. Before the eyes of visitors passed a procession of figures from public and artistic life – painters, writers, actors and actresses, dancers, singers, and art patrons. The luminaries depicted included Adolf Loos and his then partner Bessie Bruce, listed in the catalogue as Bessie Loos; alongside them appeared, among others, a portrait of the composer Egon Wellesz and one of Lotte Franzos. Landscape painting was represented by a single canvas entitled Dent du Midi, depicting the Swiss peak of that name. The remaining non-portrait works were listed as Annunciation and Cat.

The exhibition catalogue consisted of a single loose leaf. The title page bore the name of the exhibition together with the venue and dates; the reverse carried a simple list of works, a number of which were identified only as "male portrait" or "female portrait." The final five paintings were grouped under the collective heading "New Works." The catalogue's slim size is very likely the reason why archival searches for it in Prague, Vienna, Leipzig, and Berlin have been fruitless. [Hlaváček 2007] A single copy was eventually located in the Zentralbibliothek Zürich, drawn from Kokoschka's own estate. This copy is especially valuable because it contains numerous manuscript annotations in the painter's own hand. These reveal the identities of the sitters in those portraits listed merely as "male" or "female," while also describing the works numbered 25 through 29 under the heading "New Works." A detailed catalogue of the exhibits is appended at the end of this commentary. Also worthy of note is Kokoschka’s small sketch for the portrait of Robert Freund, number 14 on the list.

The public's reception of the exhibition ranged from the reserved to the outright hostile – a response that fulfilled Serner's expectations, and presumably Kokoschka's own. On one occasion Serner was obliged to accompany a group of six visitors, among them two ladies, who upon confronting the paintings broke into “wahre Veitstänze”, wailing and shrieking. They were so scandalized by what they saw that Serner was finally moved to admonish them: "Nicht auf den Fußboden spucken!" [Hlaváček 2007]

The significance of the Karlovy Vary Kokoschka exhibition rests on two important grounds. It was only the second retrospective devoted to the artist, presenting primarily the portraiture of his early period; and it stood entirely apart from the prevailing mainstream of local cultural production. In its quality, it far exceeded the boundaries of the region and pointed toward a future direction to pursue. The very next season, the Galerie Miethke opened a branch in Karlovy Vary and presented works by both contemporary artists and old masters. However, the First World War All disrupted all such endeavours and the hopes they carried. After the war, high-quality international art never returned to Karlovy Vary.

Kateřina Švajdlerová

Works Cited

Hlaváček 2007: Petr Hlaváček, Zapomenutá karlovarská výstava Oskara Kokoschky z roku 1911, Umění/Art LV, 2007, pp. 329–336

Archival Sources

Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Estate of Oskar Kokoschka, document no. 810

List of Artworks

1    Portrait of a Man (Felix Albrecht Harta, 1909)

2    Portrait of a Man (Peter Baum/Lenin, 1910)

3    Commercial Councillor Ebenstein (Ernst Ebenstein, 1909)

4    Portrait of a Man (Wilhelm Hirsch, 1909)

5     Children Lying Down (also Children Playing, 1909)

6    Portrait of Dr. L. Fr. (Lotte Franzos, 1909)

7    Dent du Midi (Switzerland) (1909–1910)

8    Peter Altenberg (1909)

9    Portrait of a Man (Paul Scheerbart, 1910)

10    Newborn (Fred Goldman, 1909)

11    Portrait of a Woman (Martha Hirsch, 1909)

12    Portrait of Signor Verona (Conte Verona, 1910)

13    R. v. Janikowsky (Ludwig Ritter von Janikowski, 1909)

14    Portrait of a Man (Robert Freund, 1909)

15    Dr. C. Christomanos (Constantin Christomanos, 1909)

16    Bessie Loos (1910)

17    Karl Kraus (1909)

18    Adolf Loos (1909)

19    Portrait of a Woman (Dr. Emma Veronika Sanders, 1910)

20    Dreamy Woman (Elisabeth Reitler, 1909)

21    Cat (1910)

22    Actress Else Kupfer (1911)

23    Portrait of a Man (Hermann Schwarzwald, 1911)

24    Portrait of a Man (Joseph de Montesquiou-Fezensac, 1910)

25–29 New Works

25    (Auguste Forel, 1910)

26    (Alexis af Ennehjelm, 1911)

27    (Egon Wellsz, 1911)

28    (Karl Etlinger, 1911)

29    (The Annunciation, 1911)

Anonymous author, Die Eröffnung der Oskar Kokoschka-Ausstellung in Karlsbad, Karlsbader Badeblatt [LI], 1911, no. 178, 1. 7., p. 3

Anonymous author, Karlsbader Volkszeitung XXV, 1911, no. 53, 5. 7., p. 2

Anonymous author, Die Eröffnung der Oskar Kokoschka-Ausstellung in Karlsbad, Karlsbader Badeblatt [LI], morning edition, 1911, no. 178, 2. 7., pp. 3–4