Letter from Oskar Kokoschka to J.P. Hodin

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[Translation/transcription]

Villa Delphin
Quartier Byron
Villeneuve
Vaud

10 October 1953

My dear Master Hodinus,

We're settled in here at last. We've bought furniture, curtains, light fittings and lampshades, even a lawnmower and pruning shears. Only the telephone is taking forever to arrive, so that now, having not seen a soul for days, we feel rather isolated after all the hubbub in the USA and then in London and Salzburg.

The school was exhausting and yet edifying, with students so full of faith they worked miracles because I willed it. Even the public and the city fathers were enthusiastic. I managed to stir them all up in two huge free lectures, for which many people were unable to get tickets, though they'd only come to 'have a look at Kokoschka' and lost their sight and hearing once I got started with my 'School of Seeing' in earnest. I really did work wonders, for it was far more difficult than in the States, where people feel no resentment towards me.

But I don't yet know whether I can do it again next year. We'd need to find a lot of money from some American foundation to set up dormitories, kitchens, studios and lecture halls for the European students, most of whom are without means. The old military barracks in the fortress was just a provisional arrangement. I can hardly stand by and watch my students starve. The thing is, I'm not able to drum up that kind of support in the USA because I tend to do things spontaneously rather than logically or methodically. My life's too short for that, organisation too dull. Unless by some miracle it falls from the sky, there'll be no School of Seeing next year, and the young people of Europe won't have any opportunity to get a real education, which is far more important than any botched political experiment. Learning sight and insight always came first. All the strife, discord and disunity in the history of Europe is the result of people coming up with theories rather than just looking at what's there under the sun, which remains the same whether it's coming up in the east or going down in the west. Let their elders chase after Picasso, who turns beautiful display cases into a paradise of the future like no window-dresser ever could. With the dexterity of a flea circus ringmaster you can go a long way in a society that lets itself be convinced that all men are equal, good enough to give blood and pay a fee at the box office just to watch the gnomes at work. How I hate these politicians, who pander to the mob and deny all glory, majesty, magnificence, exaltation and apotheosis of the human spirit!

My thanks to the beautiful one for her kind postcard from Belgium. I wish she were here with me so I could draw her!

Did you not say, dear Hodinus, that Pamela wanted to be near us in the autumn? Why not now? She could bring you that watercolour you wanted. I can't put it in the post because I can't make up the parcel and fill out all the forms. How are you? Please write to us again! I miss you too!

Sincerely yours,

O. Kokoschka

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