Richard Teschner was born in Carlsbad in 1879 and studied figural painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague between 1896 and 1899. After a term at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts, he opened an atelier over his father’s lithography workshop in Leitmeritz, near Prague, and then moved to Prague itself in 1902.
Richard Teschner 1879-1948
It was here that he first showed interest in marionettes, becoming an accomplished puppeteer and stage designer and opening his own marionette company in Prague in 1906. In 1908 he and his partner Karl Wilfert opened a private art school in Vienna. In 1911, while travelling in Holland, Teschner became interested in Javanese rod puppets and this was to become the dominant artistic influence in his work. Back in Vienna, he opened a small rod-puppet theatre called ‘Figuren Spiegel’ (Figure Mirror) and started creating his own rod puppets.
Rod puppet 'Kiai-Ageng' 1912
Rod puppet 'The Red' from the production 'Nachtstueck' 1913
In 1913 he created this marionette ‘Wassermann’ (Aquarius), which shared its name with some of the figural vases and bowls that he had designed for Loetz in 1907 and 1908.
Wassermann (Aquarius) 1913
Like so many members of the Wiener Werkstaette, Teschner was active in several branches of the arts. He also worked as a painter, a graphic artist and a sculptor; he designed the sets for his own marionette performances and even wrote the accompanying music.
'Grotesque Figure on Skis' ca. 1920
Teschner was a major influence on the 20th-century puppet revival and the success of rod-puppet theatres in Europe and the US. He died in 1948 in Vienna.