Franz Heckendorf

His experiences as an aviator in World War I were worked up by Franz Heckendorf in expressionistic images as well as the landscapes of the Balkans. He was trained in Berlin, lived in the city’s environs, and created oil paintings, pastels, and watercolors of landscapes, still lifes, and portraits. In the Third Reich, he was considered a “degenerate artist” and was banned from exhibiting. To make his living, he opened a carpet and antique store. Because Heckendorf helped a Jewish friend to escape, he was imprisoned from 1943 until the end of World War II in Waldshut and in the Mauthausen concentration camp. After the war, he taught for some time as a professor in Wien (Vienna) and Salzburg, before he painted again in München.

A reproduction of the Segelregatta auf dem Wannsee (Sailing Regatta on the Wannsee) is shown in the exhibition catalog of German entries.