The famous Viennese sculptor Peter Tereshchuk (1875-1963) specialized in creating cabinet sculpture: statuettes made of bronze and ivory. Tereshchuk was born in the small town of Vybudov on the territory of Galicia, which at that time was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His creative path began in Vienna, where he studied at the School of Arts and Crafts (1893-1899). Qualified as a sculptor, he spent some time teaching. In 1903, Peter Tereshchuk married and settled in a house with his own workshop in one of the artistic districts of Vienna.
Fame came to the master when he took up creative work in partnership with Ulman Ulrich, the owner of the foundry. Not only his figurines of girls and children were popular, sometimes in ancient clothes or in the images of the characters of the commedia dell’arte. Often these were functional objects: table lamps, inkwells, writing instruments, figured dishes and vases made of bronze, which were in vogue at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Three children of the sculptor often acted as models for children’s characters: two twin daughters and a son.
Throughout his long life, Petr Tereshchuk was engaged not only in sculpture, but also in painting and restoration of cultural monuments destroyed during the Second World War.