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Gloucester and Edgar (From King Lear)

Modern and Contemporary Art

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Gloucester and Edgar (From King Lear)

Artwork Details

Artist/Maker

Oskar Kokoschka
Austrian, 1886–1980

Date

1963

Medium

Lithograph on paper

Accession #

1979.61 L

Dimensions

Location

Currently Not on View

Description

Gloucester and Edgar

Act IV, Scene VI: “This world I do renounce”

On the heath, sightless Gloucester has met his son Edgar but does not recognize him. He asks Edgar to lead him to a cliff at Dover so that he may jump to his death. By a trick, Edgar convinces his father that he has miraculously survived the fall. Kokoschka depicts Gloucester without clothing, signifying that the once powerful man has been reduced to naked despair.

Credit

Gift of Dr. Sherman N. Leis through the Ackerman Foundation

Image Copyright

© Fondation Oskar Kokoschka/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ProLitteris, Zurich

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