Murder, Illustration of the essay Die chinesische Mauer by Karl Kraus

The poet, dramatist, and a significant figure of Modernism in Vienna, Karl Kraus (1874-1936), commissioned the illustrations of the complete essays of Die chinesiche Mauer (Chinese Wall). The true story of the murder of a missionary by a Chinese waiter in New York formed an axis of the book about hypocrisy and the sexual and racial mores of society. In Kokoschka, Kraus found an ally freed of conventions. In eight expressive illustrations, Kokoschka outlined another fatal story about his passionate and agonising love relationship with Alma Mahler (1879-1964), the femme fatale of artistic Vienna. The book with illustrations was released in 1914.