Historical scene

Oskar Laske's composition depicts a historical event from the beginning of the First World War. The bird's eye view shows a multicultural crowd of refugees. The mass of people and animals seems to be swarming in panic. Among the figures, one can recognise characteristic regional clothing, people's belongings and various means of transport. Pets accompany the people. Laske used simple means of expression - a line and a flat decorative patch of colour. He devoted much attention to this subject, creating subsequent variants and using earlier compositions as models for genre scenes. The prints were colourfully lithographed and printed on thin velin paper and published in an annual portfolio for 1916 by the Viennese association Gesellschaft für vervielfältigende Kunst, a supplement to its magazine of the same title. Oskar Anton Ivan Laske was born in 1874 in Chernivtsi in the Bukovina and died in 1951 in Vienna. He was educated mainly in Vienna. From 1892 to 1898, he studied at the polytechnic with Karl König and then at the academy with Otto Wagner. He made study trips to Italy and Germany. Between 1917 and 1919, he improved his painting skills with Johannes Itten. He worked as an architect under Hermann Müller and his father. From 1904, he also took up painting and printmaking, fields he devoted himself to from 1908 onwards. He undertook projects for book illustrations and interior decorations. He was active in art associations: Hagebund, Viennese Secession, Association of Viennese Artists and Artists' House. In 1928, the Verein Deutscher Buchkünstler (Association of German Book Artists) in Leipzig honoured him with honorary membership.

Ewa Gwiazdowska