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Oskar Kokoschka,
Selbstbildnis mit erhobenem Pinsel (1913/14)
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Kokoschka's self-portrait with his paintbrush raised refers back to a long tradition of self-portraits celebrating the artist as a confident and dauntless homo faber (cf. Dürer, Delacroix). Kokoschka's portrait, however, is only consistent with the worsening climate of scepticism and artistic disorientation which not only led to World War I, but also to the negation of art characteristic of such movements as Dadaism. Standing in front of an ominously dark background, the artist stares listlessly past the onlooker into the vacant space. Dressed in a black shirt, Kokoschka is almost absorbed into the black void surrounding his person; the feeble flicker of light which falls from nowhere on the lower part of his face and his hand is far removed from the chiaroscuro effects of Baroque art, since here it is not a metaphysical reminder but an inexplicable fact which emphasizes the dreadful darkness of existence.
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