Anton Starkopf (22 April 1889 Röa,

Rapla County Rapla County ( or ''Raplamaa'') is one of the fifteen counties of Estonia. It is situated in the north-western part of the country and borders Järva County to the east, Pärnu County to the south, Lääne County to the west, and Harju County to ...

– 30 December 1966

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

) was an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n sculptor. From 1911 to 1912, he studied at

Anton Ažbe Anton Ažbe (30 May 1862 – 5 or 6 August 1905) was a Slovene realist painter and teacher of painting. Ažbe, crippled since birth and orphaned at the age of eight, learned painting as an apprentice to Janez Wolf and at the Academies in Vienn ...

's art school in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, and from 1912 to 1913 at the Académie Russe and

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière () is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the A ...

in Paris. During World War I, he was a prisoner of war in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, Germany. In 1918, he returned to Estonia. There he was one of the founders of the

Pallas Art School Pallas University of Applied Sciences () is a university of applied sciences that provides art education in Tartu, Estonia. It was founded on 1 August 2000. The university is situated in Karlova. The rector is Vallo Nuust. History On groun ...

. He taught there from 1919 to 1940, and from 1929 to 1940 he was also the director of this school. From 1944 to 1950, he was the head of the sculpture department at the Tartu State Art Institute, and its director from 1945 to 1948. In 1950, he moved to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. There he worked in Merkurov's studio. He was married to the Estonian artist Lydia Mei from 1920 to 1928. His grandsons include the sculptor

Hannes Starkopf Hannes Starkopf (January 7, 1965 – August 19, 2021) was an Estonian sculptor. Early life and education Starkopf was born in Tallinn. He graduated from in 1983 and from Tallinn Art University in 1991 as a sculptor. Career Starkopf worked as ...

and the medical researcher . The

Anton Starkopf Fellowship The Anton Starkopf Fellowship () was a fellowship that was awarded by the Cultural Endowment of Tartu () and the city of Tartu from 2002 to 2014 to a sculptor or a sculpture project team whose work has significantly enriched the Estonian art worl ...

is named after him.

Notable works

* ''Drowning Man'' * '' Boy with Poppies'' (), 1923 * Türi War of Independence Monument (), 1924 * Ambla War of Independence Monument (), 1925 * ''Sunbather'' (), 1936 * ''Mother and Child'' (), 1938

References

1889 births 1966 deaths People from Rapla Parish People from Kreis Harrien 20th-century Estonian sculptors 20th-century Estonian male artists Honoured Workers of the Arts Industry of the Estonian SSR Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour {{Estonia-artist-stub