Poster for a Lecture at the Akademischer Verband für Literatur und Musik [Academic Association for Literature and Music]

• Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980)
• 1911
• Color lithograph on paper
• Leopold Museum, Vienna

In 1912, Oskar Kokoschka gave a lecture at the Association for Literature and Music in Vienna. He caused an outrage, arguing that the ‘face’ was not simply a part of the body but an important element that embodies human emotions and soul. A controversy ensued on how to depict a face that reveals emotions and thoughts. At the time, Kokoschka was being harshly criticized by Viennese critics and public, and he expressed his sense of isolation in this poster for his lecture; he depicted himself as an “ecce homo” or “man of sorrows,” both symbols of a man in extreme distress.