All the muscles of the slender body are tensed. In a reflex movement, the depicted has raised his arms to protect his head. Standing on the balls of his feet with his legs crossed, the figure appears to be losing balance and to topple forwards. The male figure falls. Captured in the moment of movement, the unscathed body of
The Wounded, whose molded surface subtly reflects the light, illustrates his psychological vulnerability and fragility. His participation in World War I had a strong influence on the work of the Czech sculptor Jan Štursa (1880–1925). A graduate from the state industrial school in Horice, one of the best stonemason schools in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and from the Prague Academy of Fine Arts, he traveled in 1904 to Munich, London and Paris, where he was influenced by the Italian sculptor Medardo Rosso (1858–1928). Štursa made a name for himself with Symbolist sculptures. From 1907, he was a corresponding member of the Hagenbund, and exhibited in 1911 as part of the
Kollektivausstellung der Vereinigung bildender Künstler Mánes, Prag [Collective Exhibition of the Association Mánes, Prague]. During this time, the sculptor was in close contact with the art writer Arthur Roessler (1877–1955), who mediated an artwork exchange with Egon Schiele (1890–1918) in 1912. [See ESDA 3038]
AK, 2023
