1907, Oskar Kokoschka, Natalie Baczweski -- Leopold Museum (Vienna)
From the museum label: This portrait, which Natalie Steinhaus had made in her parents' home at 19 Ameisgasse in Vienna's fourteenth district in 1907 as a wedding gift for her fiancé Max Baczewski, was one of the first commissions for Kokoschka who was still studying at the School of Arts and Crafts at the time. Following the National Socialists' seizure of power in Austria, the Jewish family was subject to persecution: Max Baczewski had to resign from his job as patent lawyer, and died just a few days after "Kristallnacht", the pogrom in November 1938. The youngest son Alexander was deported to the Dachau concentration camp in March 1938, and to the Buchenwald concentration camp in May. His older brother Victor was also arrested on "Kristallnacht" on November 10, 1938 and brought to the Dachau concentration camp. Both were released, however, and eventually emigrated to the U.S. Natalie Baczewski was not able to escape to the U.S. She received an export permit for, among other things, five oil paintings -- perhaps including this portrait -- but was taken into custody and forced to relocate to a "Sammelwohnung," a collection flat, in Vienna's second district. On September 14, 1942, she was deported to the Maly Trostinec extermination camp near Minsk where she was murdered four days later at the age of fifty-nine. The portrait remained in the possession of the family until 1975, when Victor Baczewski's widow sold it to a private collection.
1907, Oskar Kokoschka, Natalie Baczweski -- Leopold Museum (Vienna)
From the museum label: This portrait, which Natalie Steinhaus had made in her parents' home at 19 Ameisgasse in Vienna's fourteenth district in 1907 as a wedding gift for her fiancé Max Baczewski, was one of the first commissions for Kokoschka who was still studying at the School of Arts and Crafts at the time. Following the National Socialists' seizure of power in Austria, the Jewish family was subject to persecution: Max Baczewski had to resign from his job as patent lawyer, and died just a few days after "Kristallnacht", the pogrom in November 1938. The youngest son Alexander was deported to the Dachau concentration camp in March 1938, and to the Buchenwald concentration camp in May. His older brother Victor was also arrested on "Kristallnacht" on November 10, 1938 and brought to the Dachau concentration camp. Both were released, however, and eventually emigrated to the U.S. Natalie Baczewski was not able to escape to the U.S. She received an export permit for, among other things, five oil paintings -- perhaps including this portrait -- but was taken into custody and forced to relocate to a "Sammelwohnung," a collection flat, in Vienna's second district. On September 14, 1942, she was deported to the Maly Trostinec extermination camp near Minsk where she was murdered four days later at the age of fifty-nine. The portrait remained in the possession of the family until 1975, when Victor Baczewski's widow sold it to a private collection.