Peter Tereszczuk

PETER TERESZCZUK (Austria, 1875-1963).
"Skier," ca. 1910.
Patinated bronze.
Signed and stamped.
Measurements: 24 x 26 x 14 cm.

Interesting work within the production of Peter Tereszczuk, this sculpture condenses and exemplifies the modern fascination for the sport, which during the Art Decó era ceased to be understood only as an aristocratic entertainment to become a symbol of the essential values of modernity: energy, discipline, dynamism, health, competitiveness and physical beauty. France was one of the great epicenters of this phenomenon, and art immediately incorporated this new exaltation of the body and movement.

It represents a skier or mountaineer advancing with effort on a snowy or rocky surface, modeled in patinated bronze with a great sense of movement and detail; the figure appears leaning forward, leaning on long poles, dressed in early 20th century alpine clothing - cap, scarf and gaiters - while the irregular base forms an active part of the composition and reinforces the sense of movement and unstable balance, all within the elegant and dynamic style characteristic of Viennese modernist and Vienna Secession sculpture with which Tereszczuk's work is associated.

Peter Tereszczuk was an Austrian sculptor. Born in Wybudow, in the present-day district of Kosowa, in the Ukrainian province of Ternopil, Peter Tereszczuk lived his creative peak between 1895 and 1925 in Vienna. He is known in collector circles for his bronze figures in Art Deco style, and sometimes with ivory inserts (e.g. faces carved in ivory). As a representative of Art Nouveau, he made not only small sculptures, but also a series of utilitarian objects such as desk sets or lamps, which were handmade by Arthur Rubenstein and Weichmann, Wiesbaden. This piece follows the mode of the chryselephantine figures in bronze and ivory that became popular towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, taking its name from the gold and ivory Athena of Phidias.