Christ Helping the Hungry Children

Two world wars visited death and destruction upon the earth during the first half of the 20th century. In Oskar Kokoschka’s lithograph, Jesus of Nazareth—who walked a solitary path, suffered and died alone on a cross in Roman times—tenderly extends his right hand across time and space to help the hungry and suffering children of post-World War II Europe. Kokoschka, who was declared a “degenerate artist” by the Nazis, fled first to Prague and then to England in 1938. There, he made this print during the Christmas season of 1945–1946.