Emil Flecken studied in Dusseldorf and Munich. He traveled from 1926-30 through France, Algiers, the Canary Islands and the island of São Tomé and Angola. He later became a teacher at the Cologne Werkschule (Crafts School). His portraits and studies of nature were initially under the spell of academic paintings in the early 20th Century. Although Flecken progressed during the 60 years of his artistic creativity, he never succumbed to the influence of the trends and fashions of European painting. His painting Fencer’s Salute was still owned by his wife in 1979.