In 1909, the Viennese art historians Hans and Erica Tietze asked 23-year-old Oskar Kokoschka to paint a marriage portrait for their mantelpiece. The Tietzes were strong supporters of Viennese contemporary art and together helped organize the Vienna Society for the Advancement of Contemporary Art. Erica Tietze recalled that Kokoschka painted her and her husband separately, a fact suggested by the sense of separation between the couple and their strikingly distinct poses. Kokoschka used thin layers of color to create the hazy surrounding atmosphere and added crackling energy to the composition by scratching into the paint with his fingernails.
Oskar Kokoschka Hans Tietze and Erica Tietze-Conrat 1909
- MoMA, Floor 5, 504 The Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Galleries
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 30 1/8 x 53 5/8" (76.5 x 136.2 cm)
- Credit
- Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund
- Object number
- 651.1939
- Copyright
- © 2024 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / Pro Litteris, Zurich
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- Oskar Kokoschka has 147 works online.
- There are 2,457 paintings online.
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View the German Expressionism: Works from the Collection project
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Installation views
We have identified these works in the following photos from our exhibition history.
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The Museum Collection of Painting and Sculpture
Jun 20, 1945–Feb 13, 1946
2 other works identified
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Oskar Kokoschka
Jul 19–Oct 4, 1949
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Recent Acquisitions
Jul 25–Nov 5, 1950
1 other work identified
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Summer Exhibition: New Acquisitions; Recent American Prints, 1947–1953; Katherine S. Dreier Bequest; Kuniyoshi and Spencer; Expressionism in Germany; Varieties of Realism
Jun 23–Oct 4, 1953
3 other works identified
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XXVth Anniversary Exhibition: Paintings from the Museum Collection
Oct 19, 1954–Feb 6, 1955
1 other work identified
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German Art of the 20th Century
Oct 2–Dec 1, 1957
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Portraits from the Museum Collection
May 4–Sep 18, 1960
6 other works identified
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Art in a Changing World: 1884–1964: Painting and Sculpture from the Museum Collection
May 27, 1964
2 other works identified
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Permanent Collection
Mar 29, 1972–Apr 21, 1980
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Vienna 1900: Art, Architecture and Design
Jul 3–Oct 26, 1986
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Selections from the Permanent Collection of Painting and Sculpture
Jul 1, 1993
2 other works identified
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Selections from the Permanent Collection of Painting and Sculpture
Jul 1, 1993
1 other work identified
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Selections from the Permanent Collection of Painting and Sculpture
Jul 1, 1993
3 other works identified
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MoMA2000, ModernStarts: People, Language of the Body
Oct 7, 1999–Feb 1, 2000
3 other works identified
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German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse
Mar 27–Jul 11, 2011
9 other works identified
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German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse
Mar 27–Jul 11, 2011
4 other works identified
In 2018–19, MoMA collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a project using machine learning to identify artworks in installation photos. That project has concluded, and works are now being identified by MoMA staff.
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This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.
1909 Erica Tietze-Conrat and Hans Tietze, Vienna and New York
1939 The Museum of Modern Art, New York (purchased from the above)
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