Adamson Amandus [Amand
(Ivanovich)]
(b Uuga Rätsepa, nr Paldiski, 12 Nov 1855; d Paldiski, 26 June
1929). Estonian sculptor. From childhood he excelled in
wood-carving. His first serious work after graduating from the St
Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he studied (1876–81) under
Alexander Bock (1829–95), was a carved frame for Johann Köler’s
painting Tribute to Caesar (1883; Tallinn, A. Mus.), commissioned by
several Estonian art associations on the occasion of the coronation
of Alexander III (reg 1881–94). This work was inspired by Adamson’s
impressions of altars in 17th-century churches in Tallinn. Baroque
motifs became an important feature of his work, as in his
allegorical miniatures Dawn and Dusk (1895; Tallinn, A. Mus.),
carved from pear wood. Adamson completed his studies in Paris, where
he was influenced by the works of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and Jules
Dalou. A theme that runs through his smaller works is the sea, as in
the Boat’s Last Breath (wax, 1899; biscuit, 1901, executed at the
Imperial Porcelain Factory, St Petersburg, Rus. Mus.; marble, 1926,
Tallinn, Salme Cult. Cent.). He also sculpted monumental works on
the Baltic and Black Seas, such as the monument to the Sailors of
the Battleship Rusalka (1902; Tallinn) and a monument to Boats Lost
at Sea (1904; Sevastopol’). Alongside his romantic interpretation of
the sea, Adamson also depicted the sea as a workplace, as in
Fisherman from the Island of Muhu (plaster, 1892) and In Anxious
Expectation (bronze, 1897; both Tallinn, A. Mus.).
