Self Portrait as a warrior By: Oskar Kokoschka

Self Portrait as a warrior
By: Oskar Kokoschka
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I saw this sculpture on the way out of the museum. Aside from the frightening image of this mans face, I was fascinated with the fact that it was made in 1909, which meant innovation in my mind. As I read on, I found that this image was in fact extremely innovative for 1909. However, as most innovative artists experience, this piece experienced ridicule from many.
Reading the title "Self Portrait as a Warrior", made me think about how this artist could link his personal qualities to this horrific sculpture. When analyzing it, I couldn't help but to consider what the artist looked like, how he felt, and his creative intentions. For me, it gave more depth to the meaning behind the piece.
As far as I understood, most art back then used a lot of graceful linear forms. This sculpture did the exact opposite, focusing on deformity as the concentration of the face. (i.e. the bumpy nose, protruding eyes, and lips) These features made the face into a brutally expressive sculpture.
This piece focused my eye on the physical pain that this man was going through. Although, it was slightly unclear as to what he was going through, whether it was him being burned alive or something else.But after reading the description I understood that it is a man with his skin peeled back to reveal raw nerves and flesh.
The description, in my opinion, adds even more to the sculpture by confirming the details of what this man is going through. In this sculpture the use of the brownish-red color for the flesh mixed with the contrasting bright blue color of the eyes brings the observer in for a more intimate relationship with the piece, especially since the sculpture is something any observer can relate to, which is being human. The normal human qualities such as the general face shape, eyes, nose, mouth, etc. mixed with the abnormal color's and exaggerated wrinkles draws the observer into the piece which is a big part of what creates that feeling of connection.