Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/oskar-kokoschka-1430" aria-label="More by Oskar Kokoschka" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Oskar Kokoschka</a>
Polperro II
Presented by Dr Edvard Beneš, President of Czechoslovakia 1941
animals: birds
architecture
boat - non-specific
cliff
cloud
coast
Cornwall
England
England, South West
England, Southern
harbour
house
places
Polperro
residential
sea
seagull
seascapes and coasts
society
transport: water
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
weather
<p>Born in Austria, Kokoschka moved to Prague in 1934 to escape the rise of fascism, leaving for the UK in 1938. By July 1939 he was living in Cornwall in a house on a cliff overlooking the sea. The Second World War broke out shortly after his arrival and, for security reasons, painting in the open air was forbidden. This picture was painted in Kokoschka’s house and shows the view from a window. Kokoschka has written on the back: ‘30 years of an emigrant’s artistic wisdom. An artist’s signature remains - but leaders of states bloom &amp; fall.’</p><p><em>Gallery label, April 2019</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
29 May 2008 – 28 September 2008
2008-09-28
29 May 2008 – 28 September 2008
2008-09-28
2008-05-29
Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz (Linz, Austria)
http://www.lentos.at/en/
2008-05-29
Oskar Kokoschka - "Oh God oh God how frightened I am"
Loan-out
22 April 2019 – 30 October 2022
2022-10-30
29 April 2019 – 30 October 2022
2022-10-30
2019-04-29
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2019-04-22
G31 Refresh
Collection based display
21 January 2020 – 4 May 2020
2020-05-04
21 January 2020 – 4 May 2020
2020-05-04
2020-01-21
Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée (Marseille, France)
2020-01-21
Voyages
Loan-out
Polperro II
support: 606 × 864 mm
frame: 761 × 1026 × 86 mm
Presented by Dr Edvard Beneš, President of Czechoslovakia 1941
<div class="text">
<p>Born in Austria, Kokoschka moved to Prague in 1934 to escape the rise of fascism, leaving for the UK in 1938. By July 1939 he was living in Cornwall in a house on a cliff overlooking the sea. The Second World War broke out shortly after his arrival and, for security reasons, painting in the open air was forbidden. This picture was painted in Kokoschka’s house and shows the view from a window. Kokoschka has written on the back: ‘30 years of an emigrant’s artistic wisdom. An artist’s signature remains - but leaders of states bloom &amp; fall.’</p>
</div>

Display caption
2019-04-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>Oskar Kokoschka</b><span> 1886-1980 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/kokoschka-polperro-ii-n05251" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05251</span></a> </span><b>Polperro II</b><span> 1939 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Inscribed 'OK' b.l. and '30 years of an | emigrant's | artistic wisdom | An artist's signature | remains - but leaders | of states bloom &amp; fall. | All? Why? - | How an artist lives! | gives!' on back of canvas</span>
<br/><span>Oil on canvas, 23 7/8 x 34 (60.5 x 86)</span>
<br/><span>Presented by Edvard Benes, President of Czechoslovakia, 1941</span>
<br/><i>Prov:</i><span>
Edvard Benes, London (purchased from the artist 1941)</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
</span><i>The Tate Gallery's Wartime Acquisitions</i><span>, National Gallery, London, April-May 1942 (68); </span><i>A Selection from the Tate Gallery's Wartime Acquisitions</i><span>, CEMA touring exhibition, September 1942-September 1943 (46); </span><i>Oskar Kokoschka: aus seinen Schaffen 1907-1950</i><span>, Haus der Kunst, Munich, September-October 1950 (72); Kunsthalle, Hamburg, December 1950-January 1951 (72); Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim, January 1951 (72); Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin, February-March 1951 (36); </span><i>Oskar Kokoschka</i><span>, Haus der Kunst, Munich, March-May 1958 (111, repr.); Künstlerhaus, Vienna, May-June 1958 (113, repr.); Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, July-October 1958 (68); </span><i>Oskar Kokoschka in England and Scotland</i><span>, Marlborough Fine Art, London, November-December 1960 (13); </span><i>Oskar Kokoschka zum 85. Geburtstag</i><span>, Österreichische Galerie, Vienna, April-June 1971 (63, repr.)</span>
<br/><i>Lit:</i><span>
Edith Hoffmann, 'Oskar Kokoschka' in </span><i>The Listener</i><span>, XXV, 6 March 1941, p.335 and repr.; Edith Hoffmann, </span><i>Kokoschka: Life and Work</i><span> (London 1947), No.286, pp.231-2, 335, repr. pl.72 as 'Polperro-I'; James S. Plaut, </span><i>Oskar Kokoschka</i><span>
(Boston-London 1948), pp.19-20; Michelangelo Masciotta, </span><i>Kokoschka</i><span>
(Florence 1949), No.5, p.49, repr. pl.44 as 'Polperro I'; Hans Maria Wingler, </span><i>Oskar Kokoschka: The Work of the Painter</i><span>
(Salzburg-London 1958), No.318, p.328 and repr. as 'Polperro II'; J. P. Hodin, </span><i>Oskar Kokoschka: The Artist and his Time</i><span> (London 1966), pp. 24, 199; Jans Tomes, </span><i>Oskar Kokoschka: London Views, British Landscapes</i><span> (London 1972), pp.43-4, 47, repr. p.45 in colour; Oskar Kokoschka, </span><i>My Life</i><span> (London 1974), pp.160-1 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Kokoschka spent his first months in England as a refugee in Hampstead, but at the end of July or the beginning of August 1939 he moved to Polperro in Cornwall, where he lived in a house on a cliff towering over the sea. Unfortunately war broke out shortly after his arrival and, for security reasons, <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> in the open air was soon forbidden. This picture was painted within the walls of his house and shows the view from a window. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>He began at Polperro by making a series of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolours</span></a> of the scenery, including several of more or less this view. According to Edith Hoffmann, this was his first work in oils and was followed by a closely related picture (Wingler, No.318) now in the Seilern collection bequeathed to the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. However, Wingler states on the authority of the artist's wife that the present work is the second of the two versions. The other picture shows an angle of vision slightly more to the left; it includes part of a cliff face on the left-hand side and omits the houses on the extreme right. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Kokoschka eventually had to leave Polperro in June or July 1940, when the whole of the south coast was declared a defence area from which foreigners were excluded. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.392-3, reproduced p.392 </span>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
animals: birds architecture boat - non-specific cliff cloud coast Cornwall England England, Southern England, South West harbour house places Polperro residential sea seagull seascapes and coasts society transport: water UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions weather