Tomáš Seidan (6 September 1830, in
Prague – 4 December 1890, in Prague) was a Czech sculptor and art teacher.
Biography
He was one of nine children born to Antonín Seidan, an
engraver in Prague's
Old Town
In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...
. He began studying sculpture with the brothers,
Josef and
Emanuel Max. From 1843 to 1845, he was a student at the
Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, where his primary teacher was the
genre painter,
Christian Ruben. This was during a period when there were a series of educational reforms, favoring
Realism over
Academicism.
After 1849, he worked as a porcelain modeler in . In 1854, when the famous sculptor
Václav Levý left for Rome, Seidan took over his workshop. There was, at that time, no sculpture studio at the Academy, so he gave private lessons. Some of his best-known students were
Josef Mauder
Josef Mauder (18541920) was a Czech sculptor, painter, art critic and professor.
Biography
He was the youngest of four children born to the tailor, František Mauder (1810-1861), and his wife Karolína née Feifarová. His older brothers, Jero ...
,
Josef Václav Myslbek
Josef Václav Myslbek (20 June 1848 – 2 June 1922) was a Czech sculptor and medalist credited with founding the modern Czech sculpting style.Stech, V. V. Josef Vaclav Myslbek, Prague, 1954. Artia.
Life
Josef grew up poor in a suburb of Pr ...
and
Ladislav Šaloun. Myslbek would later assist Seidan with his works for the
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
in Vienna. For twenty years, Seidan was also a Professor of modeling at the
Czech Technical University in Prague
Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU, cs, České vysoké učení technické v Praze, ČVUT) is one of the largest university, universities in the Czech Republic with 8 faculties, and is one of the oldest institutes of technology in Centra ...
.
[''Svetozor'' 4, 12.12.1890 ]
He was a member of
Umělecká beseda, (a society for the promotion of the arts), and the Association of St.Luke, a painter's guild.
His most familiar statue is a memorial to the philosopher and historian, , in
Plzeň
Plzeň (; German and English: Pilsen, in German ) is a city in the Czech Republic. About west of Prague in western Bohemia, it is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 169,000 inhabita ...
; notable for its lack of idealization.
[Vojtěch Volavka, ''Sochařství devatenáctého století'' (Sculpture of the 19th Century), Výtvarný odbor UB, Praha, 1948] Also worth mentioning are his designs for the
Palacký Bridge
The Palacký Bridge (1876) () is a bridge in Prague. It is one of the oldest functioning bridges over the Vltava in Prague after the Charles Bridge.
It was built as the third major bridge shortly after the 1868 opening of the Franz Joseph Brid ...
, which were executed by Myslbek and are now on the grounds at
Vyšehrad.
References
Further reading
* Lubomír Sršeň, ''K autorství náhrobního pomníku Boženy Němcové, Sborník Památníku národního písemnictví'' (To the authorship of the tombstone of Božena Němcová, Proceedings of the Monument of National Literature). Roč. 34/2002
External links
Entry on Tomáš Seidan@ abART
@ Prostor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seidan, Tomas
1830 births
1890 deaths
Sculptors from Austria-Hungary
Czech sculptors
Artists from Prague
19th-century sculptors