Paul Cassirer, Amsterdam
Hans Domizlaff, Hamburg
Private Collection, Vienna
Sale: Im Kinsky, Vienna, May 10, 2011, lot 51
Acquired at the above sale

Prague, Galerie Feigl, 1933, no. 9 or 12

Edith Hoffmann, Kokoschka, Life and Work, London, 1947, no. 242 (as dating from 1930)
Hans Maria Wingler, Oskar Kokoschka, The Work of the Painter, Salzburg, 1958, no. 271, illustrated p. 322 (titled Ligurian Landscape)

The canvas is not lined. The canvas is pulling slightly at the upper-right corner and the surface may be very slightly dirty overall. Under UV light: no inpainting fluoresces, however a two-inch repaired tear is faintly visible at approximately five inches below and four inches to the right of the red-roofed houses. This corresponds to a patch on the reverse. Likewise, although no inpainting fluoresces, a repair on the reverse of the canvas reveals a one-inch horizontal repaired tear in the water above and to the left of the red-roofed houses. There do not appear to be any other restorations and overall the work is in very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Resplendant with the lush greens of a summer day, this landscape from 1933 conveys the Expressionist spirit particular to Kokoschka's oeuvre. The plunging view depicts the environs of Rapallo, a town situated near Portofino in the northern Italian province of Liguria. Kokoschka stayed as a guest in the town from spring through the autumn months of 1933. Hans Wingler writes of Blick auf Rapallo, "In the background the houses of Rapallo. Painted between Spring and Autumn 1933 during his stay with Bob Gésinus Visser, Rapallo"  (Hans Maria Wingler, op.cit., p. 322). Shortly after it was painted, this work was included with about fourteen others in an exhibition at the Galerie Feigl in Prague.

By the 1930s Kokoschka had been recognized as a foremost painter of his time, receiving positive critical acclaim in both Vienna and Paris. In the late 1920s and 1930s he sought new horizons for his Expressionist idiom, travelling to locations in Africa, Turkey and the United Kingdom. After he completed this landscape in 1933, Kokoschka gave it to prominent German art dealer Paul Cassirer. Wingler notes that this painting was "mentioned in a letter of November 13, 1933 to the art dealer Probst as one of the three new landscapes which were to be transferred to Cassirer to cover advances made about 1930" (ibid.). Cassirer was a vital proponent of German art and played an important role in the dissemination of Expressionist masterpieces across Europe.