Black Chalks , watercolor, ink brush and pen over pencil. Monogrammed in lower right. On brownish wove paper. 30.9 x 45.1 cm. , size of sheet. [CH].
- Particularly early work by the great expressionist. - From the acclaimed Serge Sabarsky Collection. - Long exhibition history. - Kokoschka was considered an enfant terrible from an early point on, which soon earned him a name in the Vienna art scene: He participated in the 'Wiener Kunstschau', a grand exhibition of modern art (in 1908 organized by Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann) as early as in 1908 and 1909, around the time this wpork was amde. - Works from this early creative period after Kokoschka's training at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts are extremely rare on the international auction market. - Through the simplification of the form and the formally liberated figure, the work already hints at Kokoschka's later unconventional mature style.
LITERATURE: Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, 254th auction, Modern Art, June 8/9, 1984, lot 896, p. 124 (with color illu., plate 92). Serge Sabarsky (ed.), Oskar Kokoschka. Die frühen Jahre 1906-1926 (Aquarelle und Zeichnungen), Munich 1986, cat. no. 7 (with color illu.).

Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts aus rheinisch-westfälischem Privatbesitz. Malerei, Plastik, Handzeichnung), Städtische Kunsthalle und Kunstverein f. d. Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, April 30 - June 18, 1967, p. 53, cat. no. 185 (titled "Gebeugter Akt"). Oskar Kokoschka: Dipinti e disegni, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, April 4 - June 7, 1987; Palazzo del Turismo, Riccione, June 20 - August 16, 1987, cat. no. 26. Europalia 87 Austria: Oskar Kokoschka, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Gent, September 17 - November 8, 1987; Salle Saint-Georges, Liège, November 14 - December 31, 1987, cat. no. 64. Oskar Kokoschka 1886-1980, Museu Picasso, Barcelona, February 9 - April 10, 1988, cat. no. 71. Oskar Kokoschka. Die frühen Jahre, Josef Albers Museum, Quadrat Bottrop, August 21 - October 9, 1988; Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren, March 12 - April 16, 1989; BAWAG Fondation, Vienna, October 15 - November 28, 1992, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee & Oskar Kokoschka. Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, November 10, 1993 - January 13, 1994. Oskar Kokoschka. Die frühen Jahre, Ulmer Museum, June 12 - August 14, 1994, cat. no. 7. Oskar Kokoschka. Wczesne lata, Miedzynarodowe Centrum Kultury, Cracow, October 6 - November 27, 1994; Gornoslaska Macierz Kultury, Katowice, December 19, 1994 - January 29, 1995, cat. no. 15. Klimt - Schiele - Kokoschka, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, May 20 - August 14, 1995, cat. no. 96. Oskar Kokoschka. Die frühen Jahre, Städtische Galerie, Klagenfurt, February 19 - May 11, 1997, cat. no. 9. Oskar Kokoschka. Wien - Prag (Ölgemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen), Mezinárodní kulturní centrum Egona Schieleho, Ceský Krumlov, May 23 - October 28, 1997. Oskar Kokoschka. Peintures et œuvres sur papier (Vienna 1906 - Paris 1931), Musée-Galerie de la Seita, Paris, December 29, 1998 - March 7, 1999, cat. no. 14 (with color illu.)

Galerie Günther Franke, Munich. Otto-Heinrich Nachtigall Collection, Dortmund (1967). Serge Sabarsky Collection (1912-1996), New York (acquired in 1984). Serge Sabarsky Estate, New York (1996). Vally Sabarsky Collection (1909-2002), New York. Vally Sabarsky Foundation, New York