(;rrriiaii I.ik arid I.rttrrs 15:3 .July 1992 (Mll(S3777 S2.W

OSKAR KOKOSCHKA’S ATTITUDE TO HIS HOST COUNTRY DURING HIS EXILE IN GREAT BRITAIN

MARGARET STONE

Whcn Oskar Kokoschka and his futurc wifc Olda Palkoski arrivcd at Croydon acrodromc in Octobcr 1938 thcy wcrc greatly rclicvcd whcn thc immigration officcr admittcd thcm to Grcat Britain aftcr a bricf scrutiny of thcir papcrs with a simplc: ‘All right.” Kokoschka’s dccply fclt gratitudc did not, howcvcr, prcvcnt him from bcing, at timcs, highly critical of his host country. In hcr ‘Nachwort’ to Kokoschka’s SchriJliclies Werk (Vol. 4), Olda Kokoschka mcntions his ‘unvcrwiistlichcn Zorn’, which drovc him all his lifc to fight against cvil and injusticc: ‘Scinc Rcaktion auf allcs, was ihn cmportc und ihm gcgcn dcn Strich ging, crfolgtc immcr sofort und dcutlich.” This spontancous honcsty somctimcs promptcd Kokoschka to makc somc- what undiplomatic statcmcnts. For instance, in May 1938, aftcr thc ‘Anschlufl’ Kokoschka wrotc to thc art critic Hcrbcrt Rcad asking for his hclp in obtaining an cntry pcrmit to comc to Britain: ‘Othcrwisc I am lost - sincc your Lords havc gcncrously handcd ovcr my homcland Austria to thc Nazis as a prcscnt’.” Wc do not know whcthcr Hcrbcrt Rcad rcplicd; hc ccrtainly did not cxcrt his influcncc on Kokoschka’s bchalf. ’

Kokoschka’s attitudc to Britain was, to somc cxtcnt at Icast, also colourcd by thc lack of public apprcciation and thc lack of support from thc British art cstablishmcnt. Hc arrivcd in this country virtually dcstitutc with only fivc pounds and an unfinishcd picturc: Zrani. Within a fcw days, howcvcr, he callcd on Sir Kcnncth Clark, thc dircctor of thc National Gallcry, and thc dircctors of thc Tatc Gallcry and thc Courtauld Institutc. Sir Kcnncth promiscd to hclp but sccms to havc donc nothing. At thc Tatc Gallcry Kokoschka and Olda wcrc offcrcd tca and sandwichcs whcn thcy had bccn hoping for a mcal bccausc thcy wcrc rathcr hungry. Instcad of providing practical support, the dircctor askcd Kokoschka to donatc a picturc to thc Tatc Gallcry, bccausc i t did not yct havc onc ‘von cincm so wichtigcn Rcprascntantcn dcr modcrncn Kunst’.”

Kokoschka was, in fact, quitc skilful and pcrsistcnt in sccking out influcn- tial pcoplc and in obtaining thcir hclp, but as a ncwcomcr i t took him somc time to rcalisc that a fricndly and politc rcccption and vaguc promiscs of hclp (i.c. ‘tca and sympathy’) wcrc not ncccssarily followcd by action.

’ 0. Kokoschka, Mein I.rben, hluriich 1971, 11. 219. ’ 0. Kokoschka, I‘olilirrhr ,,luJerungcn. Dn.i irhriJllidrr I l irk, I \ ’ , rd. H. Spirlniann. Hanilxrrg 1976, p. 332. ” F. \ \h i trod, Orknr Kokosrhkn. A LiJ, 1,oiidoii 1986, 1). 169. ‘ In 1947, howrvrr, hr wrotr thr forrword to Edith HolTniariii’s Knkorrhkn. I i j e njuf Ilbrk, iri which hr drplorrd thr Tart that Kokoschka was rioi yct Tull) apprrciaird i l l Briiaiii. ’ 0. Kokosehka, .Vein I.eben, p. 251; M c J c 111 /9.7t/9.53, rd. Olda Kokoschka arid Hririx Spirlniatiii, Diissrldorf 1986, pp. 82-3.

250 KOKOSCHKA’S ATH‘rUDE TO BRITAIN

By thc summer of 1939 Kokoschka’s health was poor, hc had scvcrc financial problems and was cxtrcmcly worricd about thc fate of fricnds and rclativcs in Vienna and Praguc, and of coursc about thc worsening international situation. He also fclt ignorcd and undcrvalucd as an artist, which prompted him to writc in rathcr bittcr mood to a friend that in ‘hypocritical England’ a refugee without a bank account was valued lcss than a dog or a cat. Even Rcmbrandt or Michclangclo, had they bccn poor and dcstitutc, would not have farcd any bettcr than hc did.”

For health and financial reasons, Kokoschka and Olda moved to Polpcrro in Cornwall at the bcginning of August 1939 and staycd there until July 1940. Kokoschka’s six landscapes of that part of the Cornish coast show a new vigour and freshncss. After thc outbrcak of the war, howcvcr, hc obviously felt a strong cmotional nccd to cxprcss his dcspair, fcar and frustration about thc catastrophic cvcnts in Europc in picturcs with a powerful political and social m c s s a g ~ . ~ Whilc still in Cornwall he startcd work on Private Proper@ and The Crab. In both hc used thc Polpcrro sctting. In Privalc ProperQ the main figure is an ungraceful hybrid crcaturc, a woman with a cat’s head, sitting on the bcach knitting. Shc kccps a bcady cyc on some big fish lying in the sand and somc micc playing in one of thc boats. It is, above all, the title supplicd by Kokoschka aftcr his rcturn to London which suggcsts its - not very obvious - anti-capitalist message: grced as one of the causcs of wars and suffering in thc world. The satirc was not necessarily aimed just at Britain. The Crab, on the othcr hand, was intcndcd as a morc specific comment. A gigantic, menacing and magnificcntly painted crab is towering on the clifftop whilc a tiny swimmcr in the turbulent waters below is struggling to reach the shore. Kokoschka himself cxplaincd that thc swimmer reprcscnted Czechoslovakia, the crab Chambcrlain, who would only have to put out one claw to save him from drowning, but remains aloof.’ Its other title, Hospitalio, is a bittcr reference to the refugees who tricd in vain to reach a safe haven in Britain.“

By the spring of 1940 the British government began to classify its refugee population as either ‘fricndly aliens’ or ‘encmy aliens’. The latter wcrc interned, among them many of Kokoschka’s fricnds. Although as Czcch citizens he and Olda were quite safe, Kokoschka was ‘panic-stricken at what he saw happening to his friends, and it seemed to him a repetition of

I’ Bride 111, p. 90; R. Calvocorrssi, Kokoschka and Scoflond, Edinburgh 1990, p. 7 . ’ ‘Ich rnalir cine Rrihc van politischcn Bildrrn, nichi wril ich politisrh rngagirrt grwrsrn wirr, sondrrn in drr Ahsirhi, dir Augen andercr zu olTncn dafir, wir irh drn Krirg ansah’ ( M e i n Leben, p. 257). ” E. Bcddington-Brhrrns, I a o k Bark, Iaok Forward, London 1963, p. 169; R. Calvocorrssi, O.rkor Kokoschka /&/%90, London, p. 320; cf. also E. HolTrnann, op. r i f . , to whom Kokoschka had explainrd: ‘This is Chamberlain after Munich, hr says “Uah! What haw I donr!“’ Shr confirms that the tiny figure in thr sea also reprrsrnts Kokosrhka looking for refuge in England (ibid., p. 233). “J. P. Hodin, Oskar Kokoschka, fhr Arf isf and his Time, London 1966, p. 214.

KOKOSCHKA’S ATTITUDE ‘TO BRITAIN 25 I

what he had sccn on the Nazi-occupied Contincnt: intcrnmcnt without any chance of self-defence’.

Kokoschka considcrcd the British policy of intcrnmcnt as cxtrcmcly unfair as well as counter-productive, and hc protcstcd vigorously against it by writing a reproachful lcttcr to the Prime Ministcr, by collecting signaturcs, and by campaigning against it through thc ‘Freie Deutsche Kulturbund’ (he was its Honorary Prcsidcnt) and the Frcc Austrian Movcmcnt.” His political prc-occupation also became cvidcnt in somc of thc picturcs he painted during the following ycars. A rcliablc witncss rccordcd in 1943: ‘In his own eyes i t is his political picturcs which count for most among his current work’.” This view was not always shared by later critics.

In an interview in 1962 Kokoschka rcfcrrcd to ‘the dreadful war ycars, years of humiliation and deprivation in London, sorrow over thc dcath of friends and strangers, concern over thc fate of Europe’. Hc cxprcsscd these feelings in a hard-hitting political satirc: The Red Egg (1940/41). Thc subject is the ‘carving-up’ of Czcchoslovakia, represented by a chickcn escaping with a knife in its back. The hcads of Hitlcr and Mussolini arc caricatured in a most unflattcring manncr, Francc is a grccdy cat undcr thc table leering at the crackcd red cgg thc chickcn has just droppcd. Britain is represented by a lion resting on two plinth-likc tomcs with thc inscription ‘in Puce MUNICH’. The lion’s tail is curled into thc pound sign. Thc knivcs and forks on the table form an axis bctwccn the four powers, hcncc thc alternative title, The Axes. Kokoschka’s message is quitc clcar. He accuscs Britain of having betrayed Czcchoslovakia for the sakc of financial gain and power politics.

During the war Kokoschka and Olda spcnt altogcthcr forty-six wccks in Scotland in a variety of locations. Each trip mcant an cscapc from London, a respite from the war and rcnewcd contact with nature. Kokoschka was always vcry positive in his remarks about Scotland, its landscapc, its pcoplc and its beneficial influence on his art. To him it comparcd vcry favourably to London and England.15

In the autumn of 1941 he started a scascapc of the Wigtownshirc coast which, however, after his return to London, hc changcd into a devastating

I” E. H o h a n n , op. r i t . , p. 225. I ‘ Ibid., p. 226. I f Ibid., p. 230. I’ L. Goldschcider, Kokoxhku, London 1963, p, 16. ” In his political satires Kokoschka was influrnrrd by Brrughel and Baroqur allrgory, but abovr all English eighteenth-century and early ninrtcrnth-crntury politiral rariraturr. R. Calvororrssi, Kokoschka and Srotlond, p. 8; R. Calvororrssi, Oskor Kokosrhka, p. 321. Cf. also Kokoschka’s outburst in a lettcr to a friend in Scotland in 1945: ‘ I frel an idiosyncrary towards thr bigot mentality of thc rightrousness of thr grntlrman of thr city which [sic] loot, drstroy, strrilizr thr grrrn earth and Iravr a barren desert behind whrrc they won thrir victorirs - j u s t likr locusts’. Copy in Tatr Gallrry Archive; reprinted in R. Calvocoressi, Koko.rchka und Srnlland, p. 12. I” Ib id. , pp. 8m.

252 KOKOSCHKA'S Al-I'I'I'Ul)E 'I'O BRITAIN

satirc on thc British war cffort and British sca powcr.I" Thc ironic titlc Lorefey rcfcrs to a fat, lccring and dishcvcllcd Britannia, clcarly rcscmbling Quccn Victoria, who no longcr rulcs thc wavcs but pushcs sailors down thc mouth of a shark shc is riding on and who avcrts hcr gazc from othcr mcn drowning in thc sca aftcr thcir ship was sunk by a Ccrman U-boat. This is a rcfcrcncc to thc sinking of a British lincr on 2 July 1940, whcn six hundrcd intcrnccs, cn routc to Canada, lost thcir livcs. Kokoschka clcarly blamcd thc tragcdy as much on Britain's policy of intcrnmcnt as on Gcrm- any's aggrcssion. Kokoschka's imagination had bccn carricd away by his anti-impcrialist tcndcncic~. '~

A similar critical mcssagc is convcycd by Alice in Wonderland (1942), also cntitlcd Der AnschfuJ. It dcpicts a harrowing sccnc of suffcring and dcstruc- tion, in which Ncvillc Chambcrlain rcappcars and drops a ncwspapcr with thc rcmnants of a hcadlinc: 'OUR TIMES 1938'. Kokoschka strongly condcmncd Chambcrlain's cffort of appcascmcnt and hc saw Austria as thc first victim of Nazi aggrcssion, symboliscd in this picturc by thc nakcd figurc of Truth pointing accusingly at thc spcctator.

Nor did Kokoschka show any dcfcrcncc towards thc British war lcadcrs and war hcrocs Winston Churchill and Ccncral Montgomcry. In Marinnne- Muguis (1942) hc portraycd thcm as loutish soldicrs drinking in a run-down Frcnch bar watching thc antics of Mariannc, a disrcputablc-looking young fcmalc. Thc picturc cxprcsscs Kokoschka's frustration, sharcd by many at thc timc, with thc dclay in opcning up a sccond front to dcfcat thc Nazi rcgimc. ' I ' Kokoschka's blcakcst and most dcprcssing pCJitical allcgory is a big picturc paintcd in 1943 with thc ironic titlc Whul w e are jghl ing f o r . Hc considcrcd i t to bc 'das von mir am mcistcn crnst gcmcintc'.'!' It is crowdcd with harrowing imagcs of thc dcath and suffcring of thc innoccnt, and ruthlcss caricaturcs of typical rcprcscntativcs of a corrupt and hypocritical capitalist socicty. Its savagc criticism is, howcvcr, not spccifically aimcd at Britain, but at all thc countrics at war. It says much for British tolcrancc, cvcn during thc war, that Kokoschka was able to cxhibit this picturc in London in Junc 1944: 'So ctwas war nur in England moglich, wo ich nicht nur als gcduldctcr Fliichtling, sondcrn als frcicr Mcnsch zu ubcrlcbcn hofftc'.20 Hc also protcstcd publicly about thc dcstruction of Gcrman citics,

"'Kokoschka confrssrd io Edith Hollinann that in spring hr has io grt out into naiurr to paint somrthing rral. '\\'hrn I comc hack to town, ihr landscaprs turn into political piciurrs. 11) hrari achrs, hut I cannot hrlp i t . I cannot just paint landscaprs without taking any noiicr of a11 that happrns' (E. HolTmann, op. d., p. 236). ' Ibid. I" 'Dir S x n r isi aus drr Ungrduld drr damaligrn %ritsiimmung xu vrrstrhrn. Sir is! rin spiiitischr Aufruf zur rndlichrn Bildung cinrr zwritrn Front' ( I V . Hafiniann, I'erJeniC Kun.r/, Colognc 198ti, p. 84). "I 0. Kokoschka, M e i n I.cbm, p. 257. 'I' Ibid., p. 258f.

KOKOSCHKA'S A1TI'I'UI)E 'I'O BRI'I'AIN 253

cspccially of Drcsdcn. 'Solchc AuRcrungcn konntc man in England ungc- straft machcn, dcshalb habc ich dicscs Land als Zuflucht gcwahlt'."

In 1946 Kokoschka travcllcd to Prague to scc his sistcr. Aftcr his return hc could scc no future for himsclf in cithcr post-war Czcchoslovakia or post- war Austria and he applicd for British citizcnship. In 1953 hc movcd to Villcncuvc in Switzcrland and, dcspitc considcrablc prcssurc from Austria to rcclaim his Austrian citizenship, including a pcrsonal intcrvcntion by Chancellor Bruno Krcisky, Oskar Kokoschka dicd a British citizcn in Switzcrland in 1980, having rcccivcd thc CBE in 1959 and an honorary doctoratc from Oxford Univcrsity in 1963.22

I' Ibid., p. 259. '' Austria trird wry hard to rnticr him hack with olTrrs of profrssorships and a grrirrous prnsion. hut hr drrlinrd. Sincr Austrian nationality has to hr applird for and Kokoschka rrfusrd io dtr so, Bruno Krrisky instigatrd Ihr 'Erlal3 Kokoschka' which rna1)lrd him to apply on Kokoschka's 1)rhalT in 1975. This g a w Kokoschka 'dual nationality'.