About the Artwork
The Elbe Near Dresden is the second work in a series of seven townscapes Oskar Kokoschka painted between 1919 and 1923 looking from the window of his studio in the Dresden Art Academy. Employing a wide-angle perspective, he placed the river, the town, and the sky in three horizontal bands, dominated by intense colors. Kokoschka selected a high vantage point for the painting deliberately to “see what goes on in cities, and what happens to the people who live their miserable lives in those cities.”
During his time in Dresden, the artist deepened his contacts with the expressionist Brücke (Bridge) circle, which sparked an evolution of his work. He began to employ impasto –– an application of a thick layers of paint –– to build up the surface of his paintings. Returning to the same subject repeatedly allowed Kokoschka to engage in these formal experimentations.
Acquired by the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1921, The Elbe Near Dresden was the first Kokoschka painting to enter an American museum.
The Elbe Near Dresden
ca. 1921
Oskar Kokoschka
1886-1980
Austrian
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Oil on canvas
Unframed: 23 1/2 × 31 1/2 inches (59.7 × 80 cm) Framed: 28 3/16 × 36 1/8 × 1 1/2 inches (71.6 × 91.8 × 3.8 cm)
Paintings
European Modern Art to 1970
City of Detroit Purchase
21.203
Restricted
Markings
Signed, lower left: O K
Provenance
1921-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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German Painting and Sculpture. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1931, no. 52.
Hoffman, E. Kokoschka-Life and Work. London, 1947, no. 125. [as Dresden I]
Retrospective Exhibition of Oskar Kokoschka. Exh. cat., Institute of Contemporary Art. Boston, 1949, no. 26 (ill.).
Oskar Kokoschka. Exh. cat., Haus der Kunst. Munich, 1958, no. 48.
Oskar Kokoschka, the Work of the Painter. Exh. cat., Galerie Welz. Salzburg, 1958, p. 309, no. 135.
German Expressionism. Exh. cat., Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. Columbus, Ohio, 1961, no. 43.
Bultman, B. Oskar Kokoschka. London, 1961, pp. 70-71 (ill.). [as Dresden New own II, dated 1921]
Kokoschka. Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1962, no. 58 (pl. 19).
Kokoschka. Exh. cat., Marlborough-Gerson Gallery. New York, 1966, p. 41, no. 21 (ill.).
Erwerbungsberichte, vol. II. Hamburg, Germany, 1966, p. 172, no. 11.
Cinco Siglos de Obras Maestras. Exh. cat., Museo de Jade. San Jose, Costa Rica, 1978, pp. 24, 51 (ill.).
Uhr, H. Masterpieces of German Expressionism at the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 1982, p. 122 (ill.).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
© Estate of Oskar Kokoschka / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Oskar Kokoschka, The Elbe Near Dresden, ca. 1921, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, City of Detroit Purchase, 21.203.
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