Chiswick Auctions are delighted to present an online auction of 21 selected works from the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust, taking place between the 21st and 30th June.

The auction spans four decades from the Viennese emigré artist’s life- from the 1940s to 1980s, ranging from still-lifes and portraits, to works inspired by the artist’s travels to Mexico.

^{BECKMANN AND VIENNA}

Motesiczky’s expressive and very painterly style had been formed before the Second World War, in large part influenced and encouraged by Max Beckmann. On first being introduced to Beckmann in 1920 she recalled: ‘A winged creature from Mars could not have made a greater impact on me’.

During her formative years Marie-Louise enjoyed a privileged life, growing up in an apartment on Brahmsplatz in central Vienna. Her mother Henriette was scion of an illustrious Viennese Jewish banking dynasty. Her maternal grandfather, Leopold von Lieben, was President of the Stock Exchange, and her grandmother, Anna, was one of Freud’s early patients.

_{FAMILY TRAGEDY}

Over time family tragedy, financial difficulties and the rise of Nazi Germany took their toll. Marie-Louise’s father had died in a hunting accident many years before and her mother’s considerable inheritance gradually diminished through high taxation, poor investments, and the collapse of a family bank in 1931. Further distress followed when her brother Karl, was arrested and deported to Auschwitz, dying of typhus there on 25 June 1943.

^{EMIGRATING TO BRITAIN}

With the rise of the Third Reich, and following the Anschluss in 1938, Marie-Louise and her mother fled Austria to Holland, emigrating to Britain early the following year, later settling in Hampstead. In London Marie-Louise reconnected with Oskar Kokoschka, a family friend in Vienna but now similarly exiled. Kokoschka ensured that her work was shown in a series of group exhibitions, culminating in a one-person exhibition at the Czechoslovak Institute in the autumn of 1944. Despite Kokoschka’s support, starting afresh in Britain proved challenging, and it wasn’t until 1960 that she had her next one-person show at the influential Beaux Arts Gallery.

^{GROWING REPUTATION AND SUCCESS}

But on the Continent Marie-Louise’s reputation was growing. She received wide acclaim when her work was exhibited in Amsterdam and The Hague in 1952, one of her canvases being purchased by the Stedelijk Museum; she showed in Munich in 1954 and Düsseldorf in 1955, and in the 1960s enjoyed further shows in Austria and Germany. Finally, a full 25 years on, in 1985 her work was shown again in London, at the Goethe-Institut. Widely acclaimed in the press, it seemed the climate was favourable for the re-discovery of Marie-Louise’s art.

In 1994 she was the subject of a major retrospective in Vienna at the Osterreichische Galerie, Oberes Belvedere and in Manchester at the City Art Gallery. In 2006-07 her work was shown in a centenary exhibition at Tate Liverpool, and travelled to Frankfurt, Vienna and Passau, ending in Southampton City Art Gallery.