(Czernowitz 1874–1951 Vienna)
“Pandora”, Opus 37, I. Lösung, signed, dated O. Laske 23, titled Pandora and inscribed “Opus 37, I. Lösung” also inscribed infront of the signature “Opus XXXVII”, oil on canvas, 94 x 118 cm, framed

On the reverse label, in handwriting:
O. Laske Pandora Öl as well as a label (fragment) Künstlerhaus Vienna 1924/3506
We are grateful to Mag. Paul Rachler, Künstlerhaus Archive, Vienna for his kind assistance.

Registered:
Oskar Laske, Der künstlerische Nachlaß, published by Lily Schulz-Laske/Elisabeth Kesselbauer-Laske, Vienna, p. 7/37

Provenance:
Collection Lily Schulz-Laske (1902-1992), Vienna, (the artist’s adopted daughter)-present to the current owner

MYTHOLOGICAL THEMES
Graeco-Roman mythology, with its poetic imagery in which both fiction and reality coalesce, offered Laske a host of inspiring themes, endlessly renewed in his imagination. In ‘Pandora’s Box’, created as an etching in 1923, he draws on the surreal-fantastic atmosphere of the ‘Faust Impressionen’. Laske depicts the dramatic moment of the opening of the box, from which all the evil in the world escapes in a mighty stream. The erupting doom reveals itself upon closer inspection to be a host of cramped, knotted human bodies, hunted by demonic creatures which seek to consume them. The shapes of the escaping content merge to form a gigantic fire-breathing dragon’s head. Laske considered such aggregating compositional elements as overcoming the fragmentation of the picture, and as crucial for the overall impression. In his pictorial autobiography ‘Life and deeds of the artist Oskar Laske’ he formulated the following regarding the preceding painting Opus 37 of 1923: “In the design of such a composition one must take care that so many details and episodes don’t confuse the overall impression of the painting. For example, the ‘Pandora’ painting broadly looks like a fiery dragon.”
G. Tobias Natter, Oskar Laske, Kunsthaus Vienna, 1996, p. 15 (with ill. of the etching “Pandora’s Box”) and p. 16