(Pöchlarn 1886–1980 Villeneuve)
Sonia Dungyersky, 1912, this drawing was executed in connection with the painting Sonia Dungyersky I (sketch) and II (Winkler/Erlinger 84, 85; Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, catalogue raisonné, 1912/8 and 9), monogrammed OK, on the reverse by the artist’s hand: “Diese Zeichnung ist echt, vor dem I. Krieg entstanden und sehr gute Qualität Oskar Kokoschka, 1963, Villeneuve, Vaud”, black chalk on paper, 49 x 38 cm, sight area 38.5 x 30.7 cm, framed

Alfred Weidinger/Alice Strobl, Oskar Kokoschka, Die Zeichnungen
und Aquarelle 1897–1916, Albertina, Vienna / Oskar Kokoschka-Dokumentation, Pöchlarn, Verlag Galerie Welz, 2008, p. 290,
no. 406– with ill.

Exhibitions:
Oskar Kokoschka, Das gesammelte Werk, Mannheim, Städtische Kunsthalle, 18.1–1.3.1931, no. 122
Oskar Kokoschka, Oils, Water-Colors, Drawings, Sculpture to benefit
the National Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation, New York, The Bayer Gallery, 19.1–21.2.1959, no. 24
Oskar Kokoschka, Das Portrait, Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen 1907–1966, Karlsruhe, Badischer Kunstverein, 21.8–20.11.1966, no. 84-with ill.

Provenance:
Collection of Hans (1880–1958) & Erica Tietze (1883–1958), Vienna/New York
Collection of Hilde Zadek (1917–2019, Kammersängerin), Vienna/Karlsruhe
Thence by descent – Private Collection, Germany

From 18 to 22 July 1912, Kokoschka, Peter Altenberg and Adolf Loss stayed at Hotel Panhans in Semmering, with the aim of ‘making a little portrait’, as he told Alma in a letter. He had been promised two hundred Kronen for the work, which he desperately needed to fulfil his life-long duty of financially supporting his parents. In addition, he hoped to travel to Switzerland with Alma, which he proposed would require an additional four hundred Kronen, at least. On 20 July, he wrote from Hotel Panhans in Semmering: ‘Here, I have been dragged away from my peace and isolation, and, what’s more, to earn the money I needed, I had to paint a grotesque Hungarian in surroundings that I found repulsive.’ The ‘grotesque Hungarian’ mentioned in the letter refers to Sonia Dungyersky, who was six years old at the time. Peter Altenberg was so fascinated by her that he persuaded her parents to let her be painted by Kokoschka…
Weidinger/Strobl - from the literature cited

...according to the sitter, her parents did not want to purchase the portrait. However, they paid Kokoschka half the agreed price, 250 Kronen, as compensation. In his book “Semmering 1912”, Altenberg describes the situation as follows: ‘The painter arrived. Then the ladies said: “What do you think is so special about this 6-year-old Sonja Dungyersky that you’re now painting her for 500 Kronen? Surely, she’s much more unlikeable, obstinate and rude than most of the other charming children here?” The painter: “From today onwards, I will paint her for free, do you understand, for free! For myself and for the world!... I will paint her on a weighty, low, wrought-iron throne, with her brown gazelle’s legs and her golden-brown curls! Surrounded by bleached skulls of Tartars… the whole piece will cry: “A tiny little Tartar queen, a wildcat, a victor!” ’…
From: Winkler/Erling, Oskar Kokoschka, Die Ge-mälde 1906–1929