Franz Sedlacek (Breslau 1891–1945 Thorn, Poland) “Der Flüchtling”, monogrammed, dated FS 1928 as well as titled by the artist “Der Flüchtling” on the reverse, oil on plywood, 78 x 74 cm, framed Literature: Illustrierte Zeitung, no. 4452, 1930, p. 59 (ill.) Das Buch für Alle, 28.5.1930 (ill.) Westermanns Monatsheft, vol. 74, June 1930, p. 386 (ill.) - with an article by: Prof. Dr. Hans Tietze/Neue Sachlichkeit in der bildenden Kunst Franz Ottmann. Romantik 1931, in: Die Kunst, vol. 33 no. 4 January 1932 (ill.) Josef Ruttner. Kunst in Österreich. Österreichischer Almanach und Künstler-Adressbuch 1934, Leoben 1933, p. 26 (ill.) Wiener Secession, Vereinigung Bildender Künstler 1897–1985, part 2, exh. cat., Vienna 1986, p. 84, ill. 34 Elisabeth Hintner-Weinlich, Der Maler und Graphiker Dr. Franz Sedlacek, Dissertation, Innsbruck 1987, no. 36, p. 234 Gabriele Spindler/Andreas Strohhammer, Franz Sedlacek 1891–1945, Monographie mit Verzeichnis der Gemälde, im Kinsky editionen, Christian Brandstätter Verlag, Vienna 2011, ill. p. 138 and p. 169, WV 45 (with ill.) Provenance: Kunsthandel Hieke, Vienna Family ownership, Lower Austria …And I dip my face Into the light and into myself And dissolve in myself And my ego evaporates And I remain above me: Chemically pure and unsmudged New and beautifully crystallised. Franz Sedlacek From his poem “Ode to Myself.” In 1932, in an article on the work of Franz Sedlacek and Herbert Reyl-Hanisch (1898–1937), there was again a clear emphasis on the stylistic influence of the Romantic tradition. Whereas in the context of the Upper Austrian exhibition of 1929 the stylistic terms New Objectivity and New Romanticism were still linked, the author of the article saw a reaction to the “objectivity and aloofness” of his time in the Romanticism of 1931. Similarly to Hans Tietze’s formulation of the “fantastic supernatural”, he described the Romantic tendencies as an escapist phenomenon: “The Romantic takes refuge in symbols, irony, the grotesque.”36 It is no coincidence that two scenes of fleeing were used to illustrate the article,37 for Sedlacek also worked on the actual motif of fleeing many times: both symbolically exaggerated in the religious theme of the Flight into Egypt, which was taken up several times, as well as in some pictures with profane content.38 [Footnotes 36–38 cite the image „Der Flüchtling“]