Market in Tunis

Copyright

Maker

1886-1980

Title

Market in Tunis

Date of Production

1928 - 1929

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

Height: 86.5 cm (canvas)
Width: 129 cm (canvas)

Object Number

P.1978.PG.207

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

This view of the Place Bab Souika in Tunis was painted from the roof of a greengrocer’s shop. The city’s great domed mosque can be seen at the far left of the work. Kokoschka attempted to achieve a “two focus perspective” in an elliptical horizon, similar to the effect of a wide-angled photographic lens. The foreground gives a sense of the bright colours and ceaseless flow of human activity that so enthralled Kokoschka on his trip through Africa. Recalling his rooftop vantage point, Kokoschka wrote later that after having worked on this canvas for a week “with the painting almost completed, I fell through the roof of the shop, easel and all”.

Provenance

Marcell von Nemes, Munich. Acquired by Count Antoine Seilern (1901-1978) 1930-1945; Princes Gate Bequest 1978.

Exhibition History

Special Display - Oskar Kokoschka: The Prometheus Triptych, Courtauld Gallery, London, 18/11/2021-22/09/2022

Special Display - Oskar Kokoschka, Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/10/2014-31/01/2015

Oskar Kokoschka - The Sensitive Titan, Leopold Museum, Vienna, 04/10/2013-27/01/2014

...More

The Courtauld Collection: Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 14/06/1998-21/09/1998

The Courtauld Collection, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, 26/12/1997-12/05/1998

Kokoschka - Prints, Illustrated Books and Drawings in the
Princes Gate Collection, Courtauld Gallery, London, 09/09/1992-28/10/1992

The Impressionists and Post-Impressionists from the Courtauld Collection, Tokyo, 12/01/1984-28/02/1984; Kyoto, 03/03/1984-03/04/1984; Osaka, 12/04/1984-08/05/1984; Australia National Gallery, Canberra, 01/06/1984-06/08/1984

...Less

Literature

The Courtauld Collection: Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1998

Kokoschka - Prints, Illustrated Books and Drawings in the Princes Gate Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1992
cat. no. 18
Fig. p. p. 59

The Impressionists and Post-Impressionists from the Courtauld Collection, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Canberra, 1984

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