Why was Oskar Kokoschka dissatisfied with the School of Arts and Crafts in Vienna?

Oskar Kokoschka was profoundly dissatisfied with the School of Arts and Crafts in Vienna because the institution focused exclusively on the decorative arts and completely omitted the study of the human figure from its curriculum.1

Because Kokoschka’s primary artistic interest was the human figure—a passion rooted in his deep concern for humanity—he found the school's narrow scope restrictive. While he was a student and later an assistant teacher there, he attempted to pursue his own interests by hiring acrobats' children as models for his night classes to teach his pupils how to sketch the human form. Despite these efforts, he remained frustrated by the lack of support for his desire to create monumental paintings, as he was economically compelled to spend most of his time on decorative work.1