Battersea Power Station

Location

Country: Ghana
City: Accra
Place: British High Commission

A major artist of the 20th century, Oskar Kokoschka was born in Austria and first studied art in Vienna in 1904-9. At this time he produced portraits and poster designs, during the height of the Jugendstil, the Viennese Art Nouveau. After military service in the First World War, he taught art at the Kunstakademie in Dresden, but left in 1923 to travel extensively through Europe, North Africa and the Near East, during which he made his first series of pictures of major cities. In 1934 he moved to Prague, but following the political upheavals and the arrival of the Nazis, he emigrated to London in 1938. For the next twenty years he lived almost continuously in London, and became a naturalised citizen in 1947, although he eventually moved to Switzerland in the 50s. The prolific body of painting, prints and drawings that he created over eighty years, spanned portraiture, still lifes, river and landscapes, and his work was exhibited widely during his life time in Britain, Europe and America. In 1966 his 80th birthday was celebrated with several exhibitions including a show at the Marlborough Gallery, London. After his death a major retrospective was held at the Tate in 1986.

Places

England, London

Subjects

rope, crane, topography, townscape/cityscape, smoke, river, bollard, bridge (urban), power station, barge/canal boat, ship

Materials & Techniques

lithograph

Artist

Oskar Kokoschka (1886 - 1980)

Title

Battersea Power Station

Edition

18/75

Date

1967

Medium

Lithograph

Acquisition

Purchased from Marlborough Graphics, February 1973

Inscription

below image: [left] 18/75 [right] Oskar Kokoschka

GAC number

9996