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He was named an academician of the Imperial Academy in 1907. In 1911 Adamson, as a result of a competition arranged by the Imperial Academy, received the commission for the monument to the Tricentennial of the [[House of Romanov]]. It was to be erected in Kostroma. Adamson invested all of his money into the project, which was never finished due to the 1917 Russian Revolution. In 1918, during the [[Estonian War of Independence]], Adamson returned to his home town of [[Paldiski]] in northwestern Estonia, where he would spend most of the rest of his life, except for the larger part of 1922, when he worked in Italy.
He was named an academician of the Imperial Academy in 1907. In 1911 Adamson, as a result of a competition arranged by the Imperial Academy, received the commission for the monument to the Tricentennial of the [[House of Romanov]]. It was to be erected in Kostroma. Adamson invested all of his money into the project, which was never finished due to the 1917 Russian Revolution. In 1918, during the [[Estonian War of Independence]], Adamson returned to his home town of [[Paldiski]] in northwestern Estonia, where he would spend most of the rest of his life, except for the larger part of 1922, when he worked in Italy.


During the years of independent Estonia Adamson was commissioned to sculpt multiple monuments dedicated to the War of Independence, including one in Pärnu at the Alevi cemetery, where he himself was ultimately buried. In the 1940s and 1950s, almost all of these monuments were destroyed by the Soviet authorities; since Estonia regained independence in 1991, most of them have been restored.
During the years of independent Estonia Adamson was commissioned to sculpt multiple monuments dedicated to the War of Independence, including one in [[Pärnu]] at the Alevi cemetery, where he himself was ultimately buried. In the 1940s and 1950s, almost all of these monuments were destroyed by the Soviet authorities; since Estonia regained independence in 1991, most of them have been restored.


In addition to war memorials Adamson also created the first monument to an Estonian – [[Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald]]. Adamson's last work was the monument dedicated to a beloved national poetess [[Lydia Koidula]] in Pärnu.
In addition to war memorials Adamson also created the first monument to an Estonian – [[Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald]]. Adamson's last work was the monument dedicated to a beloved national poetess [[Lydia Koidula]] in Pärnu.
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* ''Boats Lost at Sea'', [[Sevastopol]] (1904)
* ''Boats Lost at Sea'', [[Sevastopol]] (1904)
* Memorial to Estonian painter [[Johann Köler]], [[Suure-Jaani]] Cemetery (1912)
* Memorial to Estonian painter [[Johann Köler]], [[Suure-Jaani]] Cemetery (1912)
* Monument to the [[Estonian War of Independence|Estonian War of Liberation]] (1928, destroyed 1945)
* Monument to the [[Estonian War of Independence]] (1928, destroyed 1945)
* Monument to the Estonian poetess [[Lydia Koidula]], [[Pärnu]] (1929)
* Monument to the Estonian poetess [[Lydia Koidula]], [[Pärnu]] (1929)


==Gallery==
==Gallery==
<gallery>
<gallery>
Image:Eesti Vabadussõjas langenute Kuressaare mälestussammas.jpg|Copy of the original Monument to the [[Estonian War of Independence]], [[Kuressaare]]
Image:Eesti Vabadussõjas langenute Kuressaare mälestussammas.jpg|Copy of the original memorial to the fallen of [[Estonian War of Independence]], [[Kuressaare]]
Image:TheLastSigh.jpg|''The Ship's Last Sigh'', in [[Bisque (pottery)|bisque]], 1899
Image:TheLastSigh.jpg|''The Ship's Last Sigh'', in [[Bisque (pottery)|bisque]], 1899
Image:AmandusAdamsonRussalka.jpg|Sailors of the [[Rusalka (ship)|Ironclad warship Russalka]]
Image:AmandusAdamsonRussalka.jpg|[[Russalka Memorial|Memorial]] to the sailors of sunk Russian [[Rusalka (ship)|warship Russalka]], Tallinn, 1902
File:Дом Зингера 5.jpg|Finial figures and globe, [[Singer House]]. St. Petersburg, 1902–1904
File:Дом Зингера 5.jpg|Finial figures and globe, [[Singer House]]. St. Petersburg, 1902–1904
File:Scuttled ships.jpg|Monument to the Scuttled Ships, Sevastopol, Crimea, 1905
File:Scuttled ships.jpg|Monument to the Scuttled Ships, Sevastopol, Crimea, 1905
File:Johann Köleri haud.JPG|Memorial to Estonian painter [[Johann Köler]], [[Suure-Jaani]] cemetery, 1912
File:Johann Köleri haud.JPG|Memorial to [[Johann Köler]], [[Suure-Jaani]] cemetery, 1912
File:Pärnu Vabadussõja mälestussammas.jpg|Monument to the Estonian War of Independence, [[Pärnu]], 1922
File:Pärnu Vabadussõja mälestussammas.jpg|Memorial to the fallen of Estonian War of Independence, Pärnu, 1922
File:F R Kreutzwaldi monument Vorus.JPG|Monument to [[Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald]], [[Võru]], 1926
File:F R Kreutzwaldi monument Vorus.JPG|Monument to [[Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald]], [[Võru]], 1926
File:Lydia Koidula monument1.jpg|Monument to [[Lydia Koidula]], Pärnu, 1929
File:Lydia Koidula monument1.jpg|Monument to [[Lydia Koidula]], Pärnu, 1929

Revision as of 20:37, 16 April 2023

Amandus Adamson in 1914.
The house in Paldiski, where Amandus Adamson lived and worked.

Amandus Heinrich Adamson (12 November 1855 near Paldiski, Estonia, then Russian Empire — 26 June 1929 in Paldiski, Estonia) was an Estonian sculptor and painter.

Life

Adamson was born in 1855 into an Estonian-speaking seafaring family at Uuga-Rätsepa, near Paldiski by the Gulf of Finland. His father, of local partially Swedish[a][2] descent and a merchant vessel captain by profession, sailed to the United States in 1860, participated in the American Civil War, but never returned to Estonia and lost contact with his family after 1869.

Adamson excelled in wood carving as a child. He moved to St. Petersburg in 1875 to study at the Imperial Academy of Arts under Alexander Bock. After graduation he continued to work as a sculptor and teacher in St. Petersburg, with an interruption from 1887 through 1891 to study in Paris and Italy, influenced by the French sculptors Jules Dalou and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux.

Adamson produced his best-known work in 1902: His Russalka Memorial in Tallinn, dedicated to the 177 lost sailors of the Russian warship Rusalka, features a bronze angel on a slender column. Some of his other work is architectural, e.g., his four allegorical bronzes for the Elisseeff department store in St. Petersburg (for architect Gavriil Baranovsky), and the French-style caryatids and finial figures for the Singer House (for architect Pavel Suzor) are major components of the "Russian Art Nouveau" visible along Nevsky Prospekt.

He was named an academician of the Imperial Academy in 1907. In 1911 Adamson, as a result of a competition arranged by the Imperial Academy, received the commission for the monument to the Tricentennial of the House of Romanov. It was to be erected in Kostroma. Adamson invested all of his money into the project, which was never finished due to the 1917 Russian Revolution. In 1918, during the Estonian War of Independence, Adamson returned to his home town of Paldiski in northwestern Estonia, where he would spend most of the rest of his life, except for the larger part of 1922, when he worked in Italy.

During the years of independent Estonia Adamson was commissioned to sculpt multiple monuments dedicated to the War of Independence, including one in Pärnu at the Alevi cemetery, where he himself was ultimately buried. In the 1940s and 1950s, almost all of these monuments were destroyed by the Soviet authorities; since Estonia regained independence in 1991, most of them have been restored.

In addition to war memorials Adamson also created the first monument to an Estonian – Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald. Adamson's last work was the monument dedicated to a beloved national poetess Lydia Koidula in Pärnu.

Selected works

The work of Adamson varies in style and material. He sculpted monuments in Estonia, Saint Petersburg and the Crimea, as well as architectural sculpture, allegorical figures, and portraits.

Notes

  1. ^ In a 24 September 1925 congratulatory article ahead of his[1] 70th birthday, the Estonian newspaper Postimees wrote in a biographical paragraph that his father had originated “from an old Swedish family”.

References

  1. ^ Amandus Adamson
  2. ^ Postimees Editorial (24 September 1925). "Kujur Amandus Adamsoni aupäewaks" (Feature story to celebrate subject’s 70th birthday). Postimees (in Estonian). Retrieved 8 March 2023. "(His) father was a ship captain, sprung from an old Swedish family, whereas mother was Estonian and only Estonian was spoken at the parents' house." (Isa oli laewakapten, wõrsunud wanast Rootsi sugust, kuna ema oli eestlane ja wanemate majas ainult Eesti keelt räägiti.)
  3. ^ err.ee
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