šaloun was born in 1870 in prague and he studied in the studios of tomáš seidan and bohuslav schnirch. he was involved as an artist in the mánes union of fine arts. this independent education allowed him to avoid the influence of josef václav myslbek, looking instead to the work of auguste rodin. he was later admitted to the prestigious czech academy of sciences in 1912 but never took training there. in 1927 he was appointed the civic artistic advisor for the city of prague in 1927, and in 1946 was honored by being named a national artist.