Four Grotesque Figures, undated

Franz Sedlacek (1891, missing since 1945) began drawing humorous caricatures when he was still in school. The studied chemist continued his experiments on paper and canvas as a self-taught artist. In his sublime, razor-sharp landscapes, his sinister still lifes and eerie creatures, he exaggerated and distorted the organic shapes of nature, even letting them grow into scary and magical figures. Unlike the works of Alfred Kubin (1877–1959), a genius of haunting graphic art, such as The Horror or The Hour of Birth, and a member of the artists’ association MAERZ, which had been co-founded by Sedlacek, Sedlacek’s grotesque and spooky creatures invariably also contain an element of absurdity and humor. The critical analysis of his caricatures, however, must also take into account the antisemitic milieu in which the artist lived – Sedlacek would later become a member of the NSDAP – and which manifested itself in antisemitic and defamatory graphic works.

RR, 2023