German expressionists, too, are supposed to be historical relics these days. Take Oskar Kokoschka, for example. In pre-World War I Prague, they gleefully translated his Czech name literally"bad weed." Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination helped spark World War I, once growled, "That fellow's bones ought to be broken." He wrote plays that people called mad, but mainly he painted pictures that few people liked. Hitler unhesitatingly banned him as "degenerate." Kokoschka cheerfully outlived them all; today, at 80, he is more generative than ever.
To celebrate his eightieth year, he has had...
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