(Pöchlarn 1886–1980 Villeneuve) “Weibliche Figur mit Schlange und Vogel” [Female figure with snake and bird], 1914, illustration to the poem by Kokoschka, ‘Wehmann und Windsbraut’ – ‘Allos Makar’, monogrammed OK, on lower sheet margin in another hand in pencil: 1908 Weibl. Figur mit Schlange u. Vogel 1914 (31) 34, reed pen, ink on packing paper, 34.3 x 23.7 cm, framed, (K)

Alfred Weidinger/Alice Strobl, Oskar Kokoschka, Die Zeichnungen und Aquarelle,1897–1916, Albertina, Vienna/Oskar Kokoschka-Dokumentation, Pöchlarn, Verlag Galerie Welz, Salzburg 2008, no. 686

From the above publication:
This drawing in chalk or the following pen and ink drawing (cat. no. 686) may possibly have been produced as a vignette for the title page of ‘Allos Makar’. The latter depicts a clothed female figure with the facial features of Alma Mahler standing on a snake. ... The drawing is derived from sacred images, in which the Virgin is shown as standing on a defeated snake and a crescent moon. Kokoschka transfers the Christian iconography to the realm of the profane. He depicts Alma Mahler having managed to tie a knot in the body of the defeated snake, or Satan himself.
‘Allos Makar’ (an anagram of the names, Alma and Oskar) See Strobl/Weidinger, cat. no. 676

Exhibited and published: Oskar Kokoschka, Kunsthalle Bremen, 1956, no. 29,
Oskar Kokoschka, hosted by the Österreichische Kulturvereinigung, Künstlerhaus Vienna, 1958, no. 227
Oskar Kokoschka, Haus der Kunst, Munich, 1958, no. 209
Oskar Kokoschka, Palazzo Barberini, Rome 1959, no. 34
Oskar Kokoschka, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik, Kunstamt Reinickendorf - Kunstamt Schöneberg, Berlin 1962, no. 18
I. Internationale der Zeichnungen, Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt 1964, no. 32 (with ill.)

Provenance:
Collection of Wolfgang Gurlitt, Munich
Private Ownership, Vienna