0015

Kokoschka only began to work with watercolours at a late stage. Without opaque white, it is a painting technique that allows no mistakes. Touch-ups are scarcely possible: every brushstroke must be just right. “Kniendes Mädchen” (“Kneeling Girl”) is a prime example of Kokoschka’s virtuosity in this field. In just a few strokes, he succeeds in capturing not only the body and its movements, but also the girl’s expression. The phase between 1920 and 1924 produced some outstanding works.
The human being was at the centre of Kokoschka's works. He usually painted on very absorbent paper to create a matt, dull colour effect. The glazing painting technique has the effect of making the background an essential design element. The picture of the kneeling girl belongs to the series of autonomously executed watercolours that Kokoschka painted during his time in Dresden. Here, he defines the shape of the body with a few broad brushstrokes that delineate its individual parts in predominantly vertical lines. In some places, the earthy tones are superimposed and thus blend together to create new touches of colour. Kokoschka accentuates the contours of the knees, the hollows of the knees, the chin, the eyes and the hair with black strokes. In particular, Kokoschka captures the girl’s facial expression – a distant, expectant gaze – in a few precise brushstrokes.

Kokoschka had the ability to perceive special details, both in the gaze and posture, of his models and to thus create vivid, penetrating “snapshots” for the viewer. The watercolours from around 1920 captivate due to their boldly and freely placed, highly expressive fields of colour that direct the viewer's gaze and harmoniously combine to form a unity.

It was not until his later years, from the end of the 1950s, that Kokoschka again devoted himself intensively to watercolours. Animals and flowers then became his preferred subjects.
(Christa Armann)