Oskar Kokoschka (Austria, 1886–1980), The Duchess of Montesquiou-Fezensac, 1910, oil on canvas, Cincinnati Art Museum, Bequest of Paul E. Geier, 1983.64

Audio Description

This painting, titled The Duchess of Montesquiou-Fezensac was made in 1910 by Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka, who lived from 1886 to 1980. It is an oil painting on canvas, and was bequeathed to the Cincinnati Art Museum by Paul E. Geier. Its accession number is 1983.64. The portrait, a narrow painting about three feet high, offers a frontal view of a pale, gaunt woman with short brown hair shown in three-quarter length against a dark, indistinct background. She looks downward to the left with a pensive expression on her face. She may be seated sideways in a chair with her right arm resting on the back. Her right hand, positioned across her chest, appears in a cloud of red marks, making her elongated fingers seem in motion. Her left arm is bent to rest on her hip. She wears a beaded chocker and bracelet, several large rings, and a white, square neck blouse with a fur cuff or stole visible at her left forearm. A blue skirt extends up to her bustline; a bow or brooch that resembles a butterfly decorates the top of the skirt.

Label Copy

This painting, titled The Duchess of Montesquiou-Fezensac was made in 1910 by Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka, who lived from 1886 to 1980. It is an oil painting on canvas and was bequeathed to the Cincinnati Art Museum by Paul E. Geier. Its accession number is 1983.64.

Oskar Kokoschka trained in Vienna in the early years of the twentieth century and, in the 1910s, became a leading figure in Expressionist circles. He sought to convey the inner essence of his subject, whether a person or a landscape, through its form. In 1910, Kokoschka visited a Swiss sanitorium, where he painted several patients, including the French noblewoman Victoire Masséna d’Essling, who would become the Duchess of Montesquiou-Fezensac. Here, with the subject’s downturned gaze and dramatic hand gestures, the artist suggests deep introspection.

During the Nazi era, the portrait was removed from the walls of the Museum Folkwang in Essen and included in the 1937 exhibition Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) in Munich. Two years later, as the Nazis sought to monetize seized modern art to benefit the regime, the portrait was sold along with 124 other museum paintings at an auction held by Galerie Fischer in Lucerne, Switzerland.

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