This double portrait is of the art historian Carl Georg Heise (1890-1979) and the typographer Hans Mardersteig (1892-1977), who were in a homo sexual relationship. Originally the panels were to be joined with a hinge like a medieval diptych, as portraits of married couples were. In the end, at the request of the two friends, they were placed side by side in a frame. This made it look like an ordinary friendship painting of the kind often encountered in German Romanticism., Kokoschka wished to express the personalities of two friends through colour and painterly treatment. The introvert Mandersteig (left) is rendered in a dreamy blue with yellow accents to symbolise his inner glow. The extrovert Heisse is shown in a lively green with busy hands. The separate portraits have been brought together in a large frame.
Double Portrait of Hans Mardersteig and Carl Georg Heise
Oskar Kokoschka (in 1919)
Specifications
| Title | Double Portrait of Hans Mardersteig and Carl Georg Heise |
|---|---|
| Material and technique | Oil on canvas |
| Object type |
Painting
> Painting
> Two-dimensional object
> Art object
|
| Location | This object is in storage |
| Dimensions |
Height 100 cm Width 144,6 cm |
|---|---|
| Artists |
Painter:
Oskar Kokoschka
|
| Accession number | 2419 (MK) |
| Credits | Purchase Stichting Fonds Willem van Rede. On permanent loan from the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, 1956 |
| Department | Modern Art |
| Acquisition date | 1956 |
| Creation date | in 1919 |
| Collector | Collector / W. van Rede |
| Entitled parties | © Fondation Oskar Kokoschka c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2018 |
| Internal exhibitions |
Een prikkelcollectie (2000) Dubbel Portret (1981) The Collection Enriched (2011) Oskar Kokoschka - Mensen en beesten (2013) Lievelingen (2024) |
| External exhibitions |
Oskar Kokoschka. Un Fauve à Vienne (2022) Oskar Kokoschka. A Rebel from Vienna (2023) |
| Material | |
| Object | |
| Geographical origin | Austria > Western Europe > Europe |
All about the artist
Oskar Kokoschka
Pöchlarn 1886 - Montreux 1980
Oskar Kokoschka was born in Austria in 1896 to a Czech family. During his studies in Vienna one of his teachers was the famous artist Gustav Klimt, who...
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