Josef Šejnost


Josef Šejnost was a Czech sculptor and coin designer, specialising in low relief work.

Life

He was born on 30 May 1878 in the village of Těšenov in the Kingdom of Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. After a local education, from around 1892 he studied ceramics at an art college in Bechyně before joining a ceramics factory at Rakovník.
In 1901 he returned to academia to study at the School of Applied Arts in Prague, studying under Stanislav Sucharda and Jan Preisler. From this stage his focus became small sculptures and commemorative medals.
He set up studio in Prague. His work included commissions from the Prague Mint and Paris Mint.
From 1924 to 1926 he was editor of the "Dílo" art magazine.
He had a long-running project on a hill of Křemešník where he intended to establish a coin museum in an old windmill, greatly extended to accommodate the proposal. The project was designed by his architect friend Kamil Hilbert.
He died in Prague on 9 February 1941. Much of his medal work is highly collectible.
Originally buried in Prague he was reinterred in the cemetery at Pelhřimov in the 21st century to be close to his home town. There is a museum in that town to his memory.

Works

In 1918, aged 40, he married the writer and journalist, Marta Kalinová. They later lived in Větrný Zámek
Their son Zdeněk Šejnost was also a sculptor, he continued the "Windmill House" project after his father's death..
His younger son Dimitri Šejnost acquired the Windmill House.