The Snake Charmer / Oskar Kokoschka

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Record Details

Accession Number
2000/2.180
Title
The Snake Charmer
Artist Nationality
Austrian
Artist Life Dates
1886 - 1980
Medium and Support
tempera on wove paper
Object Creation Date
1907-1908
Object Creation Place
Europe (continent)
Austria (nation)
Vienna state (state)
Vienna (inhabited place)
Creation Place 1
Europe (continent)
Creation Place 2
Austria (nation)
Creation Place 3
Vienna state (state)
Creation Place 4
Vienna (inhabited place)
Style/Group/Movement
Expressionism
Inscription
Signed twice in black tempera, l.r. and r. edge close to center: OK
Dimensions
18.7 cm x 16.2 cm (7 3/8 in. x 6 3/8 in.)
Century
20th century
Primary Object Classification
Drawing
Primary Object Type
portrait
Physical Description
Geometrically patterned composition with bright saturated colors composed of a central female figure with mermaid’s tail and bright red mane of hair; skull-headed figure at left with guitar; two green monster-like figures in upper right quadrant; two black fish with blue eyes near center.
Subject Matter
“The Snake Charmer” marks a movement towards a more expressionistic style in Kokoschka’s work incorporating a bold, bright color palette, undulating lines and organic forms into a new, modern means of artistic expression filled with metaphors and personal mythologies.
The image is unsettling with acidic colors and dark, outlandish subject matter suggestive of an underwater scene with a mermaid, green sea monsters and a skull-headed musician at left playing a guitar representing the snake charmer.
Rights
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Technical Details

Image Size
1834 x 2136
File Size
521 KB
Record
2000/2.180
Link to this Item
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2000-sl-2.180/2000_2.180.jpg-2

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Full citation
"The Snake Charmer; Oskar Kokoschka." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2000-sl-2.180/2000_2.180.jpg-2. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 28, 2024.
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