The Concert III 1921

Oskar Kokoschka's The Concert III at the Minneapolis Institute of Art is a lithograph, made with crayon on stone. The subject emerges from a mesh of grey-black lines. Horizontal marks in the background evoke a sense of enclosure, while parallel strokes over the body suggest the folds of drapery. I can imagine Kokoschka, hunched over the lithographic stone, working with those greasy crayons! He's really digging in, using cross-hatching to build up tone. Look at how the density of the crayon describes the space. And then there’s this figure, leaning on their hand, lost in thought. I feel Kokoschka sympathizes with this person. His lines are so full of nervous energy. It makes me think of other artists who worked with line to express feeling, like Käthe Kollwitz. Artists have always learned from each other, riffing off gestures and finding new ways to express inner states. This print, for me, speaks to the power of looking, thinking, and making that all artists share.