Anton Josef Trčka (7 September 1893 – 16 March 1940) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n-born Czech

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

, painter and poet. He was mostly known for his

portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this re ...

, which he signed with the name "Antios," a combination of his first and middle names. His studio was destroyed by a bomb in 1944, and photographs of artists

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's prim ...

and

Egon Schiele Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele (; 12 June 1890 – 31 October 1918) was an Austrian Expressionist painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude self-portr ...

are some of the few surviving examples of his work. Trčka was born in Vienna to Czech parents who came from

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

hence throughout his life he was connected with both Germanic and Czech cultures, and lived and worked in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and Vienna. In 1911 he entered the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. During that time he experimented with new photographic techniques, and some of his pictures were produced both in

silver bromide Silver bromide (AgBr) is a soft, pale-yellow, water-insoluble salt well known (along with other silver halides) for its unusual sensitivity to light. This property has allowed silver halides to become the basis of modern photographic materials. A ...

and bromoil prints, as mirror images. He also often modified the background of a negative with a brush to create a more artistic expression. In the early 1910s Trčka reproduced some paintings of

. Trčka photographed Schiele in early 1914. Between 1916 and 1918 he served with the Austrian Army, and then worked as a military photographer. He resumed his studio work in 1924. Continuing to study his craft, Trčka was one of the students of Hella Katz. Trčka died from

carbon monoxide poisoning Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as "flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large e ...

aged 46. He was married to Clara Schlesinger.

References

1893 births 1940 deaths Austrian people of Czech descent Austro-Hungarian people Photographers from Vienna {{Austria-Hungary-bio-stub