Richard Teschner

22.03.1879 Karlsbad – 04.07.1948 Vienna

Richard Teschner was born in Karlsbad, at that time in the Austrian – Hungarian Monarchy, now Karlovy Vary, Czech Repbulik, on Marth 22nd, 1879. After having spent his youth in Leitmeritz, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts at Prague from 1896 – 1899 and after that at the Vienna High School of Arts at the Royal Museum of Arts and Industrial Design.

From 1901 on, Richard Teschner lived for several years in Prague and worked as an book illustrator. From 1903 on his interests for marionettes was awakened. The were stage settings, decorations and costume designs for the opera “Peléas et Melisande” at the German Theatre in Pargue created. In the year 1909 Richard Teschner moved once and for all to Vienna and started to work for the famous “Wiener Werkstätte”; two years later he married Emma Bacher – Paulik, and on their long honeymonn in the Netherlands he got to know Javanese marionettes. These so – called “Wajang figures” are not moved by strings but are stuck on thin rods from wood or bone.

In the same technique Richard Teschner in 1912 in his studio in Vienna’s district Gersthof created the piece “Kosumo’s self sacrifice” according to a Javanese legend. His audience were his best friends, such as Gustav Klimt, Alfred Roller, Kolo Moser, Josef Hoffmann and others. Richard Teschner himself wrote the text and the music for the piece, an in the following years he created a complicated technique of stage and stage lighting which seht international standards.

The first performance for the public took place in 1919 in a special exhibition in the Museum of Arts and Industrial Design in Vienna. His puppets were of great expressiveness, measured 30 to 40 centimeters each and were very complicated to handle, and they could be awakened to life seriously only by skilled puppet – players. Richard Teschner’s assistants were: Dr. Helene Schreiner, from 1920 on, afterwards hermy Ottawa and since 1942 Lucia Jirgal.

The well – earned award of the title professor followed in 1927. No more content with the technical standard, the artist built a new stage called “Figurenspiegel”; he also had great success in 1934 with a guest – performance in London’s Dorland Hall.

Richard Teschner died on July 4th, 1948 in Vienna. Afer his wife’s death in 1953, the artist’s estate got into the Vienna Theatre Museum; this voluminous heritage, however, is still waiting to be worked on. Besides other, the material contains the graphic work which was left by the artist himselfsystematically sorted in folders. It is remarkable what els can be found there: graphics made for the “Wiener Werkstätte”, music titles, invitations, book illustrations, and of course also exlibris; further on sculptures, oil paintings and a lot of interesting photos which give evidence of the great circle of friends of this outstanding artist of Art Nouveau.

Peter Rath