Emil Terschak
Emil Terschak (born May 27, 1858 in Vienna , † September 1, 1915 in Cortina d'Ampezzo ) was a photographer, painter, illustrator and mountaineer.
Photographer and illustrator
Emil Terschak was the son of the Czech musician Adolf Terschak (1832–1901). At the age of 18 he enrolled at the Academy in Munich (entry: April 24, 1876, 03272 register book 1841–1884), in the same year as the painter Josef Moroder-Lusenberg from Val Gardena . He then spent four years studying in Munich. After visiting Ortisei in Val Gardena in 1893 as a mountaineer from Munich, he settled in the village in 1894 and lived there in the Villa Rosenheim (today Haus Rusina). In the same house he set up a photo studio, which he also ran in Munich.
He wrote and illustrated two guides from the Rosengarten area and Val Gardena . Terschak published many of his reports of his mountain journeys in the Dolomites , which were richly illustrated by him, in the German magazines of the time , which still used wood engraving to print the pictures. See an example here .
Drawings in the Art Nouveau style of the time are also known from him.
In 1900 he wrote and published the first book in German on mountain photography . The book was published in three subsequent editions in 1905, 1913 and 1921 posthumously by Josef Rheden. In the last edition revised by Rheden, a tribute to Terschak as a pioneer of mountain photography appeared.
Pioneer of winter sports
Terschak was not only a climber, but also a pioneer in skiing, in February 1894 he took part in the ski crossing from Vent in Ötztal to Kurzras in Schnalstal . From Norway, where he lived for some time, he introduced skiing first in Val Gardena, then in Cortina d'Ampezzo . In Ortisei he founded the toboggan club and gave the tourism industry a big boost.
In 1900 the Brixner Nachrichten published an article about Terschak's activities in Munich, where he supposedly published nudes in the local studio . Pastor Anderlan in Ortisei used this opportunity to intervene in sermons against Terschak. In the diaries of Pastor Anderlan his aversion to Terschak is clearly documented. The arch-conservative Anderlan was against the sporting activity, especially against the mountaineering , in which one expose one's own life to the danger unnecessarily. Terschak's stay was no longer pleasant in this climate evoked in Val Gardena; One should consider that Ortisei in particular experienced extremely rapid economic development, partly due to the beginning tourism, but mainly due to sacred sculpture and the building of altars for Catholic churches all over the world.
Terschak moved to Cortina d'Ampezzo. The photo studio in the Villa Rosenheim in Ortisei was taken over by the Val Gardena photographer Dominik Holzknecht (commonly: Meine Golo ). Terschak ran another photo studio in the old parish hall in Cortina d'Ampezzo. There he made a significant contribution to the development of winter tourism .
Terschak was unable to recover from a flu he had contracted in the winter of 1914/15. In the meantime, Cortina d'Ampezzo was conquered by the Italians during the First World War and often bombed by the Austrians. His long suffering before his death was compounded by the uncertainty about the fate of his son Fritz after he was captured by the Italians on the Marmolada and his family knew nothing about him for months. The news of Terschak's death only reached Germany three years later, when Cortina d'Ampezzo was temporarily regained by the Austrians in late autumn.
Terschak's son Fritz (Italian: Federico) introduced ice hockey from Canada. He managed to organize the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
bibliography
- Terschak Emil: Illustrated guide through the Val Gardena Dolomites . Fischer & Bröckelmann, Berlin 1896.
- Terschak Emil: Illustrated guide through the rose garden group . Fischer & Bröckelmann, Berlin 1897.
- Terschak Emil: Photography in the high mountains. Practical hints in words and pictures . Gustav Schmidt, Berlin 1900. Four editions.
- Emil & Fritz Terschak: Guide through Ampezzo and the high-altitude tours around Cortina . 2. verb. u. Probably ed., Hirzel, Leipzig 1914.
- Terschak's drawings about climbing
Web links
- Literature by and about Emil Terschak in the catalog of the German National Library
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Terschak, Emil |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian photographer, mountaineer and artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 27, 1858 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna , Austrian Empire |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 1, 1915 |
| Place of death | Cortina d'Ampezzo , Austria-Hungary |