Heinrich C.

Berann
Heinrich Caesar Berann (March 31, 1915 in Innsbruck - December
4, 1999 in Lans, Austria) was an Austrian painter and cartographer.
Heinrich Caesar Berann
He achieved world fame with his panoramic maps that combined Born March 31, 1917
modern cartography with classical painting. His work includes maps Innsbruck
of Olympic Games sites, of mountainous regions published in the Died December 4, 1999
National Geographic Magazine, and four panorama posters of
(aged 82)
national parks published by the U.S. National Park Service.[1]
Lans, Tyrol
Resting Neuer Friedhof
place Mühlau, Innsbruck
Contents
Nationality Austrian
Early life Alma mater Federal School of Art
Painting career and Design in
Style Innsbruck

References Spouse(s) Ludmilla Herold

Further reading
External links

Early life
Berann was born into a family of sculptors and painters in Innsbruck, in the Austrian Tyrol. Between 1930 and
1933, he studied painting at the Federal School of Art and Design in Innsbruck, but was unable to survive
solely as a painter during the Great Depression. After graduating, he worked as a freelance artist and graphic
designer.[1]

In 1934 he won a competition to produce a panoramic map of Grossglockner High Alpine Road, a newly
opened mountain road, which led to commissions to paint landscapes for cartographic or tourism purposes.

He married Ludmilla Herold in 1941. The couple had two daughters, Elisabeth and Angela. His military
service in the German army, which sent him to Norway and northern Finland in 1942, also contributed to his
artistic style.[1]

Painting career
He painted over a hundred maps, including works produced for the Olympic Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo for
the 1956 Winter Olympics, Rome for the 1960 Summer Olympics, Innsbruck in 1964 Winter Olympics and
1976 Winter Olympics, Sarajevo for the 1984 Winter Olympics, and Nagano for the 1998 Winter Olympics.
He also produces ski trail maps for European winter sports resorts, particularly in Austria, Switzerland,
Germany and France.

In 1962 he painted Mount Everest for the National Geographic Society.[2] He eventually painted about 20
maps for the National Geographic including Mont Blanc (September 1965), five maps of the Leeward Islands
(October 1966), Sky World of the Himalayas (October 1966), a map of the Pacific Ocean floor (October
1969), The Delta Project in the Netherlands (April 1968), Nepal (November 1971), and A Traveller's Map of
the Alps (April 1985).[3]

In 1977, he painted the topographic map of ocean floors by Marie Tharp and Bruce C. Heezen continuing
work he started at National Geographic.

Near the end of his career he painted four panoramas for the U.S. National Park Service of North Cascades
National Park (1987), Yosemite National Park (1989), Yellowstone National Park (1991), and finally Denali
National Park and Preserve (1994).

North Cascades National Park (1987) Yosemite National Park (1989)

Yellowstone National Park (1991) Denali National Park and Preserve

(1994)

He died in 1999 at age 84 in Lans, Tyrol, where he had lived since 1952.

Style
He combined traditional and modern techniques to develop a style of "mountainscape painting" and the
"modern panoramic map" that made him famous.

"There's just something absolutely magical about his panoramas," according to Tom Patterson, a senior
cartographer for the U.S. National Park Service.[3]

Berann used creative distortion in his work. For example his painting of Denali vertically exaggerated the
heights by a factor of two, with additional exaggeration for the peak at the center of the painting. In his
painting of Yellowstone National Park the size of the Old Faithful geyser and the park lodge were also
exaggerated. Other distortions in his paintings include a visual
opening up of the tightly packed canyons of North Cascades
National Park.[3]

His use of clouds on the horizon sometimes creates a vanishing-

point effect or balances other objects on the horizon. He also
emphasized lakes and other bodies of water, showing
reflections of the mountains or glints of sunlight to attract the
viewer's eye.[3]

Colors in his paintings are extremely vivid when viewed up

close, but when viewed from a normal distance mix into more
natural hues.[3]

His work was often painstaking. For example on his 1966

panorama of the Himalayas for National Geographic he
observed the mountains extensively including flying around
Mount Everest in a chartered plane. Mountain climbers
gathered over 100 photos for his use. Berann then spent 600 Grave in Innsbruck
hours to paint the mountainscape.[3]

References
1. Troyer, Matthias. "The life of Heinrich Caesar Berann (1915-1999)" (https://www.berann.com/lif
e.html). The world of H.C. Berann. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
2. "Everest Summit Map" (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/2018/05/29/ma
ps-everest/11-everest-summit-map.adapt.1900.1.jpg). National Geographic. Retrieved
5 August 2019.
3. Mason, Betty (28 June 2018). "Gorgeous Panoramic Paintings of National Parks Now Online"
(https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/berann-national-parks-illustration-maps-
culture/). National Geographic. Retrieved 22 July 2019.

Further reading
"Heinrich Berann Panoramas" (https://www.nps.gov/carto/app/#!/maps/categories/12). National
Park Service. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
Doctorow, Cory (6 July 2019). "National Park Service publishes hi-rez scans of Heinrich
Berann's iconic, panoramic paintings of America's parks" (https://boingboing.net/2019/07/06/yel
lowstone-and-co.html). Boing Boing. Retrieved 22 July 2019.

External links
List of Berann maps at the Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/maps/?all=true&fa=contribu
tor:berann,+heinrich+c.)
The Map Designer (https://mapdesign.blog/2018/06/22/featured-cartographer-heinrich-
berann/), Featured Cartographer: Heinrich Berann

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