Amandus Adamson (1855-1929) I Wars of Independence
Estonian sculptor, academician and one of the founders of Estonian national art.
Amandus Heinrich Adamson was born on 12 November 1835 on Pakri Peninsula. His artistic gift was discovered early, he supposedly carved his first wooden figure for his brother before learning to read.
Despite his humble background and multiple failed attempts at enrolling, Adamson managed to enrol in Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1876 as a visiting student, graduating in 1879 with a silver medal. He went on to become a freelance artist in Saint Petersburg and soon began receiving commissions from the aristocracy and even the sovereign's family. On 8 April 1887, he opened his first solo exhibition in Saint Petersburg. Adamson lived in Paris from 1887 to 1891, which was an artistically productive period during which he developed his style. In 1889, he entered two of his works in the Exposition Universelle in Paris and won an award.
In 1901, Adamson turned to designing monumental sculptures. His first commission was the Monument to the Sinking of the Russian Warship Russalka in Tallinn (1902) – the Estonian sculptor's first monument in Estonia.
In 1907, Adamson was made academician of Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts and tutored many, among whom were famous Estonian artists Nikolai Triik and Konrad Mägi.
In the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, Adamson returned to Estonia and settled in the town of Paldiski, later he lived and worked in Italy from time to time.
His works are in the style of Neo-Baroque with Realist influences and are often allegoric. He has designed many War of Independence monuments (in Pärnu, Valga, Rakvere, Narva-Jõesuu, Viljandi, Suure-Jaani, Kuressaare, the statue of Kalevipoeg in Tartu by Emajõgi River).
Adamson died on 26 June 1929 at his home in Paldiski. He is buried next to his designed Monument to the War of Independence in Pärnu. The Adamson family gave the artist's summer studio house in Paldiski to the Estonian government in 2005. The Amandus Adamson Studio Museum was opened there as a branch of Harjumaa Museum in 2010.
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There is a mistake here: "...as a visiting student, from which she graduated in 1879..." (it should be: not "she", but HE!)