Kokoschka : The Untimely Modernist

Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) was an artist of his time, but he also stood out among his peers - not just because of his toweringphysical height but for his artistic range: he wrote plays and stories as well as essays on art and politics. Using both brush and pen towork against the tide, he played a major role in shaping European art in the twentieth century. A rebel of the art world, he was usedto controversy, and Ru diger Goerner's accomplished biography weaves the dark, unsettling aspects of Kokoschka's life amonghis more celebrated achievements: from the eerie doll he had made in the image of a former lover to the unconventional artschool he founded in the aftermath of war. Taking us from his birthplace of Poechlarn across Europe and to the United Kingdom,where he became a naturalised British citizen in 1947, this first English-language biography does more than show Kokoschkaas a maverick artist; it is the definitive interpretation of an extraordinary life.