Oskar Kokoschka, 1886-1980

Kokoschka's pictures had their roots in personal experience, yet they were intended as messages of salvation to cure the ills of the rootless modern individual. Rejecting abstract art on the one hand and decadence on the other, he produced expressionist paintings of great psychological and political acumen. As Europe crumbled in the decades presaging Hitler, he focused on the morally ambiguous figurethe vacillator aware of individual impotence, the soldier, the eavesdropper. In his later works he turned to classical myths. These themes are reflected in this catalogue of an exhibition at London's Tate Gallery, soon to be at New York's Guggenheim Museum. Kokoschka's light touch is nowhere more evident than in the watercolors and drawings, which get their full due here. Introductory essays examine Kokoschka as artist, playwright and wanderer; one engaging personal reminiscence recounts his love of the theater and his passion for toys and gadgets. (December 12)