Oskar Kokoschka
Austria (1886—1980)
Kokoschka took on applied arts at the Kunstgewerbeschule at the heart of Vienna Secession. He never received a formal training in painting but he got a job at the Wiener Werkstätte, working on postcards and children drawings. After WWI he continued to paint and in 1922 he attended the International Congress of Progressive Artists. The Nazis forced him to leave Austria for Prague, where he met a group of expats, who founded the Oskar – Kokoschka – Bund (OKB), although he never joined them. He escaped the war and found asylum in Scotland. He travelled to US and from 1947 he settled to Switzerland, where he remained until his death.
