Johann Kautsky


Johann Wenzel Kautsky was a Czech scenic designer, landscape painter and co-owner of "Brioschi, Burghart und Kautsky", a stage decorating company in Vienna.

Life

He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, from 1844 to 1850 with Christian Ruben and Max Haushofer. In 1850, he went to Düsseldorf to continue his studies with Johann Wilhelm Schirmer. The following year, he began work in Prague as a theater decorator. In 1854, he married the actress and writer, daughter of the scenic designer Peter Anton Jaich. They had three sons, one of whom was Marxist theoretician Karl Kautsky.
In 1863, he was appointed a decorative artist for the Vienna State Opera. The following year, he became a partner in the studios of Carlo Brioschi. Two years later, the Viennese Court Painter Hermann Burghart was added to the partnership, creating the firm of "Brioschi, Burghart und Kautsky, k.u.k. Hoftheatermaler in Wien", which employed dozens of carpenters, blacksmiths, mechanics and clerks in addition to their painters; among whom were Georg Janny,, Ferdinand Brunner and Alfons Mucha. The studio received many orders from abroad as well as locally. Among their regular customers was the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Brioschi and Kautsky slowly gave up active participation in the firm, which was led by Burghart until his retirement in 1892. That same year, Kautsky bought out his partners and handed the company over to his sons, Hans and Fritz, who joined with the Italian painter and operated under the name "Kautskys Söhne und Rottonara". They remained in business for several more decades.