THE COLLECTION OF OBJECTS

Artifacts

During his numerous trips abroad and meetings with countless people, Oskar Kokoschka accumulated a wide variety of objects that served him as a source of inspiration. Above and beyond their historical value as a picturesque cabinet of curiosities, they document both his artistic practice and his passion for collecting. Wide-ranging in their provenances and ages, they attest to Kokoschka’s interest in Greek Antiquity, folk and religious art, coins, postcards and naturalia. Almost 300 of these objects are today conserved at the Fondation Oskar Kokoschka.

Skyphos with red figures of Polygnotus, Attica, 5th century BC, terracotta, 21 x 35 x 23.3 cm, personal collection of Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey, Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, CCOK 1, photograph: Claude Bornand, Lausanne.

Emblema (?), Roman era, Hellenistic (?), gold, 6.4 x 4.8 x 2.9 cm, personal collection of Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey, Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, CCOK 8, photograph: Claude Bornand, Lausanne.

Head of a Greek warrior from the east pediment of the Temple of Aphaia on the Island of Aegina, cast from the original dating from the late 6th / early 5th century BC and conserved at the Glyptothek, Munich, 20th century, plaster, 18.5 x 17 x 21 cm, personal collection of Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey, Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, CCOK 11, photograph: Claude Bornand, Lausanne.

Skyphos with a frieze of animals, Corinthian, 1st half of the 6th century BC, terracotta, 11.4 x 23.2 x 16.7 cm /Globular aryballos decorated with komasts and rosettes, Corinthian, 1st half of the 6th century BC, terracotta, 7.4 x 7.4 cm /Amphoriskos with a frieze of animals, Corinthian, 1st half of the 6th century BC, terracotta, 15.5 x 8.5 cm, personal collection of Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey, Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, CCOK 17, CCOK19, CCOK20, photograph: Claude Bornand, Lausanne.

Tiger with a nodding head (Hariko-no-tora), Japan, 1st half of the 20th century, polychrome papier-mâché, 40 x 50 x 27 cm, personal collection of Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey, Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, CCOK 25, photograph: Claude Bornand, Lausanne.

Virgin and Child, Czech Republic, 20th century, polychrome wood, 35 x 9 x 5 cm, personal collection of Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey, Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, CCOK 54, photograph: Claude Bornand, Lausanne.

Bodhisattva, Far East, undated, polychrome wood, 76 x 16 x 14 cm, personal collection of Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey, Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, CCOK 63, photograph: Claude Bornand, Lausanne.

Leda and the Swan, France, Samson Factory, 1879–1951, biscuit, 19 x 15.6 x 14 cm, personal collection of Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey, Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, CCOK 65, photograph: Claude Bornand, Lausanne.

Narasimha and Kalki, the fourth and tenth avatars of the god Vishnu, India, 20th century, polychrome wood, Narasimha 22.7 x 12.3 x 6.5 cm, Kalki 20.8 x 10 x 7.8 cm, personal collection of Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey, Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, CCOK 68, photograph: Claude Bornand, Lausanne.

Chiave di carretto(bas-relief decorating the back of a Sicilian cart) representing the episode of the frenzy of Roland from the poemOrlando Furiosoby Ariosto), Sicily, 1st half of the 20th century (?), polychrome wood, 20.5 x 90 x 5 cm, personal collection of Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey, Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, CCOK 84, photograph: Claude Bornand, Lausanne.

Idol, Cyclades, 3rd millennium BC, marble, 66 x 44 x 2.8 cm, personal collection of Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey, Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, CCOK 85, photograph: Claude Bornand, Lausanne.

Aes grave, Helmeted head of Minerva from the front, coin of the Roman Republic, 225–217 BC, anonymous issuer, cast bronze, diam. max. 7 cm, personal collection of Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey, Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, CCOK 115, photograph: Claude Bornand, Lausanne.

Helmeted head of Athena, copy from a Greek original dating from the 5th century BC, unknown origin, Roman era, Proconnesian marble and stone, head 37.5 x 25 x 29 cm, base 18.5 x 20 cm, personal collection of Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey, Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, CCOK 126, photograph: Claude Bornand, Lausanne.

Sarcophagus and figurines representing the resurrected rising from their coffins, unknown origin, 20th century, polychrome wood, sarcophagus 6.2 x 6 x 5.5 cm, coffins with figurines approx. 5.1 x 5.4 x 2.6 cm, personal collection of Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey, Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, CCOK 190, photograph: Claude Bornand, Lausanne.

Working tools

The Fondation Oskar Kokoschka holds numerous tools used by the artist: an easel, palettes, rags, brushes, crayons, tubes of gouache, boxes of watercolours and pastels, lithographic inks and chalks and indeed small bottles – the range of materials is extensive. Kokoschka obtained supplies from many different countries and tested various qualities of products and brands, generally among the best known. They reveal much interesting information about Kokoschka’s working methods. Who would have guessed that Kokoschka, wont as he was to apply colours vigorously, in fact kept his brushes impeccably clean? And what about these coloured crayons, honed to a point with a knife in order to give his lines great mobility?