Gustav Prucha was born in Vienna and trained by the Austrian painter and watercolourist Joseph Eugen Hörwarter. Following his teacher, he painted many genre scenes, although Prucha specialized in depicting chariot races and sleigh rides in mainly sunny winter landscapes. Prucha would also study at the academy in Prague and traveled a lot for his studies, to Hungary and Croatia, but also the Netherlands. In America he worked under the pseudonym 'John Harway'. Sometimes he signed his work with this name.