ANTON JOSEF TRCKA (1893–1940)
Sexologist Dr. Julius Spinner, 1925

Estimate: € 5.000–6.000

Vintage silver print

23,7 x 17,7 cm

Photographer's “ANTIOS” signature and date in the original negative

Only a few professional portraits by Anton Josef Trčka are known; in 1944, practically his entire oeuvre was destroyed by a single bomb hit on his studio. Trčka, who signed his work »Antios«, worked from about 1925 in the studio of the photographer Hella Katz at Stubenring, and in 1926 founded the ›Ringwerkstätten für Kunsthandwerk und Lichtbildkunst‹ (Ring Workshops for Arts and Crafts and Photographic Art) at her address, which existed until about 1934. This photograph shows the sexual scientist Dr. Julius Spinner, whose name was artistically incorporated into the negative. Little is known about Dr. Spinner. In 1931 he published the book »Die Jungfernschaft. Virginität und die Defloration als Kulturprobleme« (Maidenhood. Virginity and Defloration as Cultural Problems) in Vienna, after that he disappeared. The cover of the book was designed by one of the leading graphic designers of the time, Josef Binder, which displays Spinner’s high quality standards and explains why he wanted to have his portrait taken by a photographer like Trčka.

Start price: €2.800