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Oil on canvas Germany/Southern Europe, 1925 Franz Heckendorf (1888-1962) - German painter and graphic artist Signed and dated, lower right 'F. Heckendorf. 25' Very good condition Total dimensions, framed: 75 x 95 cm Provenance: acquired at auction from Villa Grisebach in 2002; thereafter German collection This work, created during the Weimar Republic, belongs to the artist's most significant creative phase; similar works by Franz Heckendorf fetch up to 30,000 Euro at auctions This oil painting by the German painter and graphic artist Franz Heckendorf (1888-1962) depicts the view of a Southern European town exhibiting the artist's typical brushwork. It shows the scenery of a town encased by large trees in strong colourfulness and broad contours. Noteworthy is the dating of the work to the period of the Weimar Republic. During this time, Heckendorf experienced the prime of his creativity and he painted landscapes influenced by the impressions he gathered during his travels to Southern European countries such as Italy or former Yugoslavia. In this painting the luminosity of the colours is especially well-preserved, visible in the red roofs of the houses and the green of the trees. The artist changes perspective often, and removes the objectivity of the depicted. The oil painting 'Townscape' by Franz Heckendorf is mounted in a dark wooden frame with a red undercoat. The painting is signed and dated lower left 'F. Heckendorf. 25'. The work is in very good condition with the usual traces of age such as craquelure - mainly to the left border. The dimensions of the work are framed 75 x 95 cm, and the stretcher frame measures 60 x 81 cm. Franz Heckendorf (1888-1962) Franz Heckendorf was a German painter and graphic artist of the Expressive Realism who underwent a blooming period during the time of the Weimar Republic. During the Third Reich he was imprisoned for ten years because he had helped a group of Jews to escape to Switzerland. His works were classified as 'degenerated art' by the Nazi regime. Heckendorf's artistic education began at the young age of 15, when he completed an apprenticeship as a decorative painter. Afterwards, he studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule and the Academy of Arts in Berlin. Shortly thereafter, he already exhibited some of his works at the Berlin Secession. He primarily painted landscapes and still lifes that clearly show a Mediterranean influence from the impressions of his travels to Italy and Croatia during the 1920s and 1930s. After his imprisonment, he worked in Vienna at the Academy of Fine Arts, and afterwards in Munich until his death in 1962. Works by Franz Heckendorf are located amongst others at the Stiftung Moritzburg (Halle), the Salzburg Museum, the Berlinische Galerie and the Wilhelm-Lehmbruch-Museum in Duisburg.