FRANZ SEDIVY II

(Danish, 1888-1973)

VESTAL VIRGIN

Gouache, Watercolor and Graphite on Paper

14 x 11¼ Inches

Signed Lower Left, "F. Sedivy" and Dated 1959

 

A dramatic figural painting of a young woman, shown naked and holding aloft an earthenware oil lamp while shielding herself modestly with a draped cloth. In the foreground, a stylized pumpkin and a breaking wave occupy the right corner while, in the background, circular design motifs repeat and echo each other, accentuating the artist's Art Deco treatment of his classical, mythological subject.

 

Born to an artistic family, Franz Sedivy II studied with his father, Franz Sedivy I, the Hungarian watercolorist and poster-designer. He first attended the Frederiksberg Technical School (1905-9) and the Copenhagen Technical School (1908-9) where he studied under Holger Grønvold. He subsequently attended the School of Danish Crafts (1913) where he studied with Jens Møller-Jensen. Also in 1913, he was awarded a scholarship from the Ronges Foundation. Over the next sixty years, Sedivy established his reputation as an independent artist, exhibiting widely and with success, including in Copenhagen (1919), Stockholm and Oslo (1920), Berlin (1928) and Paris (1930). In addition to his work as a fine artist, he was also much in demand as a painter and designer of theatrical and stage sets and. from 1934-1948, worked as a fine art restorer for the Danish National Museum. Franz Sedivy is listed in the Vollmer supplement of Thieme-Becker's definitive dictionary of 20th Century artists.

 

Reference:

Vollmer, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler des 20. Jarhhunderts, Hans Vollmer, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 1992, Vol. 4, p. 250; et al.