All her life Herta Czoernig roamed through the city of Vienna and the surrounding country-side with her sketch pad, crayon and set of color pencils capturing the picturesque streets, homes and scenery.  She is generally considered to have been the last "topographic" artist of Vienna.

Born in Klagenfurt, she wanted to become an artist from the time she was a young girl.  Women were not accepted as students at the Graphic Academy of Vienna in those days so she attended the Art School for Women and later studied in Weimar, Germany.  In Vienna, Professor Ludwig Michalek taught her the difficult medium of etching.  The large number of etchings she later created are today sought by lovers of the medium as well as lovers of Vienna.

Herta Czoernig's artistry received recognition principally after World War II, through her etchings of the homes of musicians and composers in Vienna.  Each of these has a vignette containing a few bars of music relating to the scene.

In addition to the growing public interest in her work, she was recognized by the Historical Documentation Center of the Austrian National Library because many of her etchings were the only surviving documents of the streets and houses in Vienna destroyed during the war.  Today many of her works are in the archives of the National Library.

Her greatest honor came shortly before her death.  The Albertina Museum in Vienna, home of one of the world's greatest collections of graphics, commissioned Herta Czoernig to make a plate featuring the Albertina itself.  She died soon after completing the etching, her life's ambition fulfilled.