Cyprian Godebski (sculptor)
Encyclopedia
Méry-sur-Cher
Méry-sur-Cher is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre region of France.-Geography:A village of farming and forestry situated by the banks of the Cher River some northwest of Vierzon, at the junction of the N76 and the D211 roads. The now disused Canal de Berry passes through the south of...
, 30 October 1835 – 25 November 1909, Paris) was a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
sculptor and from 1870 a professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts
Imperial Academy of Arts
The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, was founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov under the name Academy of the Three Noblest Arts. Catherine the Great renamed it the Imperial Academy of Arts and commissioned a new building, completed 25 years later in 1789...
in St. Petersburg. He was the grandson of Polish poet and novelist Cyprian Godebski
Cyprian Godebski
Cyprian Godebski was a Polish poet, novelist, father of Franciszek Ksawery. An outstanding poet of the so-called "Legions Poetry".-Life:...
, creator of the "Legions poetry" genre
Literary genre
A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or even length. Genre should not be confused with age category, by which literature may be classified as either adult, young-adult, or children's. They also must not be confused...
, who had served in Napoleon's Polish Legions.
Cyprian Godebski is remembered for having won the contest for the Adam Mickiewicz Monument
Adam Mickiewicz Monument, Kraków
Adam Mickiewicz Monument in Kraków, , is one of the best known bronze monuments in Poland, and a favourite meeting place at the Main Market Square in the Old Town district of Kraków....
in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
but for having lost the commission
Commission (art)
In art, a commission is the hiring and payment for the creation of a piece, often on behalf of another.In classical music, ensembles often commission pieces from composers, where the ensemble secures the composer's payment from private or public organizations or donors.- Commissions for public art...
to a newcomer, Teodor Rygier
Teodor Rygier
Teodor Rygier was a Polish sculptor known for his Adam Mickiewicz Monument in Kraków, Poland. Rygier studied in Warsaw, Dresden, Munich and in Vienna. In the years 1865-1866 he studied sculpture in Berlin and in Paris...
, whose more popular design was ultimately adopted by the city in 1889. Godebski, however, created an equally revered Mickiewicz monument in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, erected 10 years later on Krakowskie Przedmieście
Krakowskie Przedmiescie
Krakowskie Przedmieście is one of the most impressive and prestigious streets of Poland's capital.Several other Polish cities also have streets named Krakowskie Przedmieście. In Lublin, it is the main and most elegant street...
, for which he was awarded 50,000 ruble
Ruble
The ruble or rouble is a unit of currency. Currently, the currency units of Belarus, Russia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria, and, in the past, the currency units of several other countries, notably countries influenced by Russia and the Soviet Union, are named rubles, though they all are...
s by the Committee to Erect the Adam Mickiewicz Monument (Społeczny Komitet Budowy Pomnika).
The Warsaw statue was destroyed by the Nazis during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, in 1942, and was recreated in 1955 using the head and a fragment of the torso recovered in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
.
Biography
Godebski received his art education at the Paris studio of sculptor François JouffroyFrançois Jouffroy
François Jouffroy was a French sculptor.Jouffroy was born in Dijon, the son of a baker, and attended the local drawing school before being admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1824. In 1832 he won the Prix de Rome...
. He lived and worked in Lwow from 1858 and in 1861 moved to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
where he worked on commissions from the Imperial court of Austro-Hungary. In 1863 Godebski moved to Paris again, and lived alternately in France and in Belgium. In 1870 he accepted the nomination for the professorship at the Russian Academy of Arts and moved to St. Petersburg for several years. He was in Warsaw in 1870 and 1875.
Cyprian married the half-Belgian, half-Russian Zofia Servais, and became the father of Maria Zofia Godebska, later known as pianist Misia Sert
Misia Sert
Misia Sert was a pianist of Polish descent who hosted an artistic salon in Paris...
who later had considerable influence within Parisian artistic circles. Her mother, a daughter to a noted musician Adrien-François Servais
Adrien-Francois Servais
Adrien-François Servais was one of the most influential cellists of the nineteenth century. He was born and died in Halle, Belgium.Servais was originally trained as a violinist before switching to the cello...
, had died giving birth to her on 30 March 1872 while in Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo is the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of St. Petersburg. It is now part of the town of Pushkin and of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.-History:In...
, where Godebski was engaged in reconstruction of the tsarist palace. He married again, a sculptor Matylda Rosen, and while in Warsaw in 1875 run an artistic salon with her for the local elite. Following his return to Paris, Godebski organized a new popular artistic and literary salon
Salon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...
. In 1877, he was nominated as member of the French National Academy, and in 1889 received the medal and title of the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Since 1897 he was the first president of the Artistic and Literary Club of Paris.
Works
- Monument to Independence in LimaLimaLima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
, Peru, (1866–1859) - Adam Mickiewicz MonumentAdam Mickiewicz Monument, WarsawAdam Mickiewicz Monument is a monument dedicated to Adam Mickiewicz at the Krakowskie Przedmieście in the Śródmieście district of Warsaw, Poland. The Neo-Classicist monument was constructed in 1897-1898 by sculptor Cyprian Godebski.-History:...
in WarsawWarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
(1898) - Allegories and grave statuesStatuesStatues is a popular children's game, often played in Australia but with versions throughout the world.-General rules:# A person starts out as the "Curator" and stands at the end of a field. Everyone else playing stands at the far end...
in Paris, France, to Théophile GautierThéophile GautierPierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic....
and Hector BerliozHector BerliozHector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
at MontmartreMontmartreMontmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...
and Père-Lachaise - Statue to Artur GrottgerArtur GrottgerArtur Grottger – 1867) was a Polish painter and graphic designer, one of the most prominent artists of the early 19th century despite his brief life.-Biography:...
in Lwow - Monument to Aleksander FredroAleksander FredroAleksander Fredro was a Polish poet, playwright and author.-Life:Count Aleksander Fredro, of the Bończa coat of arms, was born in the village of Surochów near Jarosław, then a crown territory of Austria. A landowner's son, he was educated at home. He entered the Polish army at age 16 and saw...
in front of Słowacki Theatre near Planty ParkPlanty ParkPlanty is one of the largest city parks in Kraków, Poland. It encircles the Stare Miasto , where the Medieval city walls used to stand until the early 19th century. The historic Old Town is not to be confused with the Administrative District No. 1 Stare Miasto extending further east.The park has an...
in Kraków Old Town - Monument to astronomer Nicolaus CopernicusNicolaus CopernicusNicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
at the Collegium NovumCollegium NovumThe Collegium Novum is the Neo-Gothic main building of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, built in 1873-1887. Based on a design by architect Feliks Księżarski to match the oldest building of the University, it was opened for the 500th anniversary of the University's foundation...
, Kraków UniversityJagiellonian UniversityThe Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world.... - "Genius and Brute Force" 1888, white marble, 2.6 m, state commission, ToulonToulonToulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
Musée d'art and Musée Sainte-CroixMusée Sainte-CroixThe Musée Sainte-Croix is the largest museum in Poitiers, France.Planned by architect Jean Monge and built in 1974, it stands at the site of the former Abbaye Sainte-Croix, which was moved to Saint-Benoît, Vienne...
in PoitiersPoitiersPoitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...
, France
Further reading
- Cyprian Godebski biography at www.culture.pl
- Adam Mickiewicz Monument at the City's official website.
- John Day, Time Magazine, "Borderline of Bohemia" with profile of Misia Sert stored at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
- A Biography for People who influenced Ravel