Emil Schwantner

Schwantner began to show his artistic talent at a young age, and with the help of Hartmann, the chief designer of the Žacléř porcelain factory, he began his apprenticeship at Theodor Pohl's porcelain factory at the age of 14. The owner of the Pohl company supports him in further studies and their cooperation continues in the future. Schwantner's small masterpieces made in Žacléř porcelain factory are now displayed in the collections of many museums and galleries in the region.

In the years 1907–1909, Schwantner attended the Ceramic School in Teplice and then until 1912 the Academy of Arts in Prague, where he was accepted at the intercession of Professor Myslbek, although he missed one year of studies at high school. In the following years he left to study with Professor Metzner in Berlin. He participated in work on the statue of Emperor Joseph II. for Teplice Šanov, on the statue of G.E. Lessing for Chicago, and on models for the impressive Battle of the Nations Memorial.

The outbreak of World War I found Schwantner in Vienna. He joined the Austrian army as a volunteer. He works as a volunteer front-line officer in Halič, Volyně in Romania and in the Isonzo River region. After the war, he returned to the Giant Mountains, set up a studio in Trutnov and worked as a freelance sculptor. This is where the most fruitful period of the author's life begins. In his works, he elaborates on experiences from the World War, the horrors of which struck him deeply. Under their impression, he creates a number of monuments in the Krkonoše region dedicated to fallen soldiers. Some of his works were destroyed during the occupation, such as the monument to the victims of World War I called Dance of Death, which was melted down during World War II, others, such as the important tombstone of Social Democrat MP Wilhelm Kiesewetter in the Trutnov cemetery, were vandalized in 1993. The Trutnov council had the tombstone restored in 2006 according to the fragments and photo documentation found, and in 2017 also the sculpture Dance of Death returned to its place in the Trutnov park. Its author is the contemporary sculptor Paulina Skavova, born in Trutnov. The new statue was cast in the HVH art foundry. 

In 1946, Schwantner was displaced to Ottersleben, Germany, where he had a hard time finding a job and a roof over his head, and eventually tried to work as a freelance artist. However, he obtains only small orders from patriots who ask him for replicas of works that they had to leave at home in the Czech Republic. The dedicated second woman Anna faithfully stands by him until he died exhausted and forgotten on December 18, 1956, in Schönebeck nad Labem, Germany.

The street in Trutnov suburb - Červený Kopec was named after this talented sculptor.