Karel Lidický

Czechoslovakian medalist, sculptor and university lector Karel Lidický was the son of a stonemason and initially made an apprenticeship in this profession. From 1922 he attended the sculptors’ school in Hořice and then the art academy in Praha (Prague), where he studied with Otakar Španiel. Study trips took him to Italy and France. In 1935 he became a member of the national Bohemian art association “Umělecká beseda” (“Artistic Organization”).

Lidický was named professor at the Technical University in 1945, at the Pedagogic Faculty of the Charles University of Praha in 1947 and eventually at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1967. Lidický specialized in Czech classical portraits, but also worked as a medalist and created monuments. He was influenced by Charles Despiau (1874-1946) and Italian neo-realists like Giacomo Manzù (1908-1991), who was a close friend.

Lidický worked mostly in impressionism. After World War II his works were considered socialist realism. One of his main works is a statue in the Bohemian village of Lidice, which was destroyed by the German occupiers in 1942 as an act of revenge for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.