1886-1980
1886 Bom I March at Poechlam, about 100 krn west of Vienna on the Danube. Second of four children of Prague-born goldsmith Gustav Kokoschka and of Romana Loidl, a forester's daughter from Hollenstein in the Lower Austrian Alps. Childhood and youth spent in Vienna.
1904 Takes Matura examination at Waehringer Stutsrealschule, in Vienna!s 18th district. Awarded state scholarship to study at the Kunstgewerbeschule of the Austrian Museum for Art and Industry.
1907 Becomes associate of the Wiener Werkstaette. Starts work on his illustrated poem "Die traeumenden Knaberr".Makes shadow puppets for WWs Cabare "Fledermaus" in Vienna.
1908 Gives regular evening class in drawing at the Kunstgewerbeschule. Invited to exhibit at the Kunstschau by die Klimt circle.
1910 Paints portraits of tuberculosis patients in a Swiss sanatorium. Spends most of the year in Berlin, contributing texts and drawings to Herwarth Walden's Der Sturm.
1911 Returns to Vienna. Included in the Hagenbund's exhibition of contemporary art from Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Contact with the Blaue Reiter.
1913 Travels to Italy with Alma Mahler. In Vienna, starts work on the painting ?Die Windsbraut?.
1914 Enlists in the Dragoons.
1915 Military training. End of affair with Alma Mahler. Sent to the Eastern front, where he is badly wounded. Hospitalized in Vienna.
1916 Serves as a liaison officer on the Slovenian-Italian front, War drawings. Travels to Germany and signs contract with Cassirer. Friendship with Expressionist writers and actors.
1917 Zurich Data artists perform Kokoschka?s play Hiob. Visits Sweden.
1920 Buys family a house on the outskirts of Vienna.
1921 Meets Anna Kallin, his companion until 1925.
1923 Leaves Dresden; travels to Switzerland with Anna Kallin. Death of Kokoschka?s father.
1931 Extensive stay in Paris; one-man show at the Galeric Georges Petit. Dissolution of contract with Cassirer.
1933 Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. Kokoschka publishes article defending Liebermann against Nazi persecution.
1934 Civil war in Vienna followed by the end of democratic government in Austria. Death of Kokoschka's mother. Meets Olda Palkovska.
1935 Political and humanist writings. Starts work on portrait of the Czech President Thomas G. Masaryk, who helps Kokoschka apply for Czech citizenship.
1937 Retrgspective exhibition in Vienna. Eight paintings included in the Nazi exhibition ?Entartete Kunst" in Munich.
1938 Hitler's annexation of Austria (13 March).
1941 Marries Olda Palkovska.
1947 Adopts British nationality.
1956 First visit to Greece.
1958 Major retrospective in Munich, Vienna and The Hague.
1960 Awarded the Erasmus Prize.
1965 Publication of Die Odyssee lithographs.
1968 Visits Turkey.
1973 Travels to Jerusalem and makes portrait drawings for the Jerusalem Foundation.
1976 Exhibition to celebrate his 90th birthday.
1978 Major touring exhibition in Japan.
1980 Dies 22 February at Montreux in Switzerland.
Bibliography
1. Books and portfolios
Jagdbuch (Diarium). Vienna: Wiener Werkstaette, 1908
Die traeurnenden Knaben. Vienna:
Wiener Werkstaette, 1908.
Zwanzig Zeichnungen Berlin: Der Sturm, 1913.
Dramen und Bilder. Leipzig: Kurt Wolff, 1913; introd. by Paul Stefan. Moerder Hoffnung der Frauen. Berlin-
Der-Sturm, 1916.
Der gefesselte Kolumbus. Berlin: Fritz Gurlitt, 1916. Portfolio of 12 lithographs illustrating Kokoschka?s dramatic poem.
2. Books on the Artist
Paul Westheim. Oskar Kokoschka. Potsdain-Berlin:Gustav Kiepenhauer, 1918.
Georg Biermann. Oskar Kokoschka. Leipzig, Berlin: Klinkbardt und Biermann, 1929.
Michelangelo Masciotta. Kokoschka. Florence: Del Turco, 1949.
Hans M. Wingler. Oskar Kokoschka: Ein Lebenshild in zeitgenoessischen Dokumenten. Munich:
Albert Langen, Georg Mueller, 1956.
Ivan Fenjo. Oskar Kokoschka: Die fruehe Graphik. Vienna: Euro-Art Buecherkreis, 1976.