Jan Stursa

(1880-1925)

The Czech sculptor Jan Stursa was born in Neustadt / Nové Mesto na Morave in 1880. From 1894 to 1898 he completed his training at the State Trade School in Horice. He also worked in the workshop of the Zeindler brothers in Berlin. Between 1899 and 1903 Stursa studied at the Prague Academy with Josef Václav Myslbek, whose assistant he was from 1908. From 1916 he worked as a professor for medalists and eventually became head of the school of sculpture at the Prague Academy and in 1923/24 its rector. In 1904 he studied in Paris and in 1907 in Italy. From 1907 Stursa was a corresponding Hagenbund member. In 1925 he committed suicide in Prague.

His affinity for modern poetry is evident in his first works, with his „Melancholisches Mädchen“ from 1906 being the high point of his first creative period. In the composite of visual artists Mánes he met Jan Kotěra, through whom he received numerous commissions for decorations before the First World War. An exhibition of the works of the sculptor Emile Antoine Bourdelle in Prague in 1909 had a strong influence on Stursa, which was particularly evident in his monumental group of sculptures „Work and Humanity“ from 1912–13 on the left bridgehead of the Hlávka Bridge in Prague. His main work from this period, the “Belly Dancer Sulamit Rahu” from 1910–11, met with great international approval and was purchased by the Modern Gallery in Venice in 1920 and exhibited there. In 1913 his design for the Jan Žižka monument in Prague showed the influence of Cubism, but it was his statue “Resting Dancer” from 1913-14 that was ultimately rated as his best work. Stursa processed his oppressive war experiences in the monumental work “The Wounded” from 1920-21. He created numerous monuments of important personalities of the Czech culture, such as by Svatopluk Čech, Friedrich (Bedřich) Smetana, Jan Amos Komenský, as well as busts of Eduard Vojan, Max Švabinský, Božena Němcova, Marie Hübnerová and Leoš Janáček.

Stursa, whose work is characterized by great depth of feeling, is one of the most important Czech sculptors of the early 20th century and the founders of modern Czech sculpture, together with Myslbek and Otto Gutfreund.

Source: [aus: Pappernigg, Michaela (Bearb.): Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts. Bestandskatalog der Österreichischen Galerie des 20. Jahrhunderts, Bd. 4: S–Z, hrsg. v. d. Österreichischen Galerie Belvedere, Wien 2001, S. 133] – Biographie

Source: Publikation: ÖBL 1815-1950, Bd. 14 (Lfg. 63, 2012), S. 15f. (Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon)

If you would like to buy works by the artist Jan Stursa online, you will find examples here in our gallery.