Celda Klouček (born Celestýn Klouček; 6 December 1855, Senomaty – 14 October 1935,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

) was a Czech sculptor, designer, teacher, and

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

Life and work

He began his studies at the

Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague The Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (AAAD, cs, Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová v Praze, abbreviated VŠUP, also known as UMPRUM) is a public university located in Prague, Czech Republic. The university offers the study ...

, then transferred to the

School of Applied Arts A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. There, he worked in the studios of from 1878 to 1881. In addition to his studio work, he taught decorative sculpting at the

Kunstgewerbeschule A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: ''School of Arts and Crafts'' or S''chool of Applied Arts'') was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for thes ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

. From 1888 to 1916, he was a professor at his alma mater in Prague; overseeing a studio for decorative drawing and modeling. He was also involved in the

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

studio, and worked together with Professor Emanuel Novák (1866–1918) in the Academy's artistic metal program. Since he was a young boy, he had collected minerals and

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s. Through his own studies, and collaborations with the paleontologists at the National Museum, he developed into a knowledgeable researcher; publishing his own discoveries in the professional journals. His works were mostly decorative and ornamental pieces, done in

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

. They are largely within the style of

Historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely ...

, primarily

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

and Baroque. He also designed stucco pieces for interiors and exteriors, fireplace masks and lamps, as well as other arts and crafts items. Around 1900, he began designing in the Art Nouveau style and exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he went into semi-retirement, taking only small, private, commissions.

Selected projects

His works, and works by his students, based on his designs, have been preserved throughout Prague, Plzeň, and Vienna. * Building of the former

Zemská Banka Zemská Banka (german: Landesbank) was a significant state-sponsored financial institution in Prague during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was founded in 1890 as the ( cs, Zemská banka království Českého, french: Banque du Roya ...

, by

Osvald Polívka Osvald Polívka (24 May 1859 in Enns – 30 April 1931 in Prague) was an Austrian-born Czech architect associated with the Art Nouveau period in Prague. Polívka designed many of Prague's significant landmarks of the era, plus other work in Brno ...

* Building of the former Prague Municipal Credit Union, by

Antonín Wiehl Antonín Wiehl (26 April 1846, Plasy – 4 November 1910, Prague) was a Czech architect, museum official, and patron of the arts. He helped create the first system of historic preservation in Bohemia. Biography His father was an Austrian forest ...

* Head office of the Prague Credit Bank * , today the seat of the Apostolic Nunciature. * Decorations at the in Plzeň * Decorations in the Imperial Suites at the Hofburg.

Sources

* ''Celda Klouček, sochař, návrhář, paleontolog'': Exhibition catalog for his 155th anniversary, West Bohemian Museum, Plzeň, 2010 * Jaroslav Perner, ''Celda Klouček paleontolog'', , Prague, 1937
Online

External links

Works by and about Klouček
@ the National Library of the Czech Republic
Mgr. Bronislava Bubeníčková: ''Přínos Celdy Kloučka české keramické tvorbě na přelomu 19. a 20''
(The Contribution of Celda Klouček to Czech Ceramic Art at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries), Bachelor's thesis (2010) @ MUNI, Brno
Entry for Klouček
@ AbART {{DEFAULTSORT:Kloucek, Celda 1855 births 1935 deaths Czech sculptors Czech architectural sculptors Czech paleontologists People from Rakovník District Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague alumni Sculptors from Austria-Hungary