601 - Franz Senkinc (Vienna 1902 - 1955 Vienna)

Franz Senkinc (Vienna 1902 - 1955 Vienna) Cliff, 1932 gelatin silver print 31,5 x 33 cm signed and labelled Steilküste on cardboard, photographer’s blindstamp recto on photo Senkinc 1932 mounted 39 x 40 cm SCHÄTZPREIS / ESTIMATE € 600 - 1200 STARTPREIS / STARTING PRICE € 600 Franz Senkinc was an Austrian painter, graphic artist, and photographer associated with the Viennese avant-garde. The son of a lithographer, he initially completed an apprenticeship in lithography before continuing his education through self-study and private studio training; he began participating in exhibitions by the Hagenbund in 1930. His work occupies a space where the Vienna Secession, the Viennese avant-garde of the 1930s, and Surrealism intersect. In his figurative compositions—featuring mythological centaurs, surreal scenes, and photomontages—he combined dynamic linework and fragmentation with an often provocatively humorous perspective on modernity. After 1945, he further developed this experimental approach in the spirit of post-war modernism, creating oil paintings, etchings, collages, and photographs. Senkinc’s works are held in collections such as that of the Neue Galerie Graz. Art-historically, his work is closely linked to figures like Egon Schiele and O. R. Schatz; Senkinc belonged to the latter’s circle of friends, alongside Max Zülow, Rudolf Pointner, and Karl Wiener. Furthermore, his surreal and experimental works reveal clear affinities with international figures such as Max Ernst, André Masson, and Giorgio de Chirico, as well as with the Dadaist visual strategies found in the work of Francis Picabia and Raoul Hausmann. It was particularly in his photographs, collages, and photomontages that Senkinc fused these diverse impulses into a distinctive Viennese variant of the avant-garde—one in which Expressionism, Surrealism, Dada, and the tradition of Viennese Modernism intertwine. His oeuvre can thus be situated within the multifaceted context of the Hagenbund, which emerged as a vital forum for modern and experimental art in Vienna during the interwar period. PLEASE NOTE: The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights and platform fee. In the case of normal taxation (marked ° at the estimate), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax is added to the sum of the highest bid, the buyer's premium and platform fee. This amounts to 13% for paintings, drawings, graphic works and sculptures and 20% for photographs and all other items. The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.