Hans Liska facts for kids

Hans Liska (born November 19, 1907, in Vienna, Austria – died December 26, 1983, in Wertheim am Main, Germany) was a talented Austrian artist. He was a painter, a commercial artist (meaning he created art for advertising), and an illustrator (someone who draws pictures for books or magazines).

Hans Liska's Artistic Journey

Early Life and Art School

Hans Liska first went to an economic school. He even worked as a bureaucrat for a while. To help pay for his studies, he also worked as a pianist.

This helped him get into the University of Applied Arts Vienna. There, he studied art with Berthold Löffler. Löffler was a friend of the famous painter Oskar Kokoschka.

After his studies in Vienna, Liska worked as a commercial artist in St. Gallen, Switzerland. He then continued his art education in Munich, Germany. He studied at the Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule München with teachers like Emil Preetorius.

Drawing During Wartime

Later, a publishing company called Ullstein Verlag encouraged Liska. He went to the Academy of Arts in Berlin to study with Ferdinand Spiegel.

When World War II began, Hans Liska became a soldier. He also worked as an illustrator for the Wehrmacht Propaganda Troops. His drawings showed scenes from different battlefields. These drawings were printed in many magazines, even in countries that were neutral (not taking sides in the war).

Two of his sketchbooks are now valuable collector's items. One was published in 1942 and another in 1944. From 1933 to 1944, he drew for the Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung. He also contributed to Signal, a magazine that shared news and images during the war.

Liska even made a drawing of a huge art studio. This studio was planned to be built near Munich. It was meant for creating giant statues. One drawing showed how a horse statue would be made. Another showed these huge horse sculptures being moved to train tracks.

Life and Work After the War

After World War II ended, Hans Liska stayed in Germany. In 1948, he married Elisabeth Schmid in Scheßlitz, near Bamberg. They had two daughters named Angelika and Gabriele.

In Scheßlitz, Liska started drawing for popular magazines like Quick and Hörzu. He spent many years working in advertising. He created art for big companies, especially the car maker Daimler-Benz. He also worked for Ford and the perfume company Mühlens (4711).

Other companies that hired him included department stores like Galeria Kaufhof. He also drew for Degussa, a company that works with chemicals, and Märklin, a toy company. He worked for Quelle, a mail-order company, and Hoechst, a paint company. Breweries like Lederer Bierkontor and Schlenkerla also used his art. He even drew for the sparkling wine producer Henkell & Co. Sektkellerei.

Books and Collectibles

Starting in 1960, Hans Liska published books filled with his sketches. These books showed cities and regions like Salzburg, Bamberg, Cologne, Kulmbach, and Franconia.

A porcelain company called Kaiser, located in Bad Staffelstein, also used Liska's art. They put over 200 of his illustrations on pitchers, porringers, and especially plates. These plates featured drawings of many cities, including Aachen, Berlin, Danzig, Königsberg, Munich, and Wroclaw.

Hans Liska loved Mozart's operas. This led him to create a series of pictures called Zauber der Bühne (Magic of the Stage), published in 1982. In his illustrated autobiography, Malerisches Kulmbach (1985), Liska shared his admiration for artists like Max Ernst, Oskar Kokoschka, and Pablo Picasso.

Hans Liska passed away on December 26, 1983, after having a stroke.