Willy Gordon

Willy Gordon (July 2,1918 – 2003) was a Swedish-Jewish sculptor and artist. [http://web.archive.org/web/20061214231240/http://ijk-s.se/jfm/e_jfm1.htm Jewish Community of Malmö via Internet archive] ] Gordon was born at Ringen in the Russian gubernia Courland (present day Renge, Latvia) and later emigrated with his family to Malmö, Sweden when he was seven years old. [http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Gordon Swedish Wikipedia article on Willy Gordon] ] He studied sculpture by Nils Sjögren, at the Royal University College of Fine Arts ( _sv. Konsthögskolan) in Stockholm and later with Ossip Zadkine in Paris.

Art

Gordon had created many public artworks as one finds in many places all over Sweden.

Public sculptures

Gordon was active in Stockholm for a major part of his life, and there about a dozen of his public sculptures can be found. For example ”Wives” in the Fruängen centre (1968), ”Living ore" in Karlavägen street in the district of Östermalm in Stockholm and "Flight with the Torah" outside the Great Synagogue, in Stockholm's inner city. In Malmö a monument created by Gordon exists at the cemetery to commemorate all the victims of the Holocaust.

Famous people

He also created statues of famous people such as the one for tenor Jussi Björling that is exhibited at the Björling Museum in Borlänge, [http://www.borlange.se/templates/BlgPage____6975.aspx Björling Museum Tour] ] "Evert Taube playing the lute" (1990) at the Evert Taube terrace in Riddarholmen or a sculpture of Nobel prize laureate Selma Lagerlöf called "The Crystal of Pain" (Swedish: "Smärtans Kristall") in Farsta.

Gordon also created a monument in honour of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg in Lidingö, an island outside Stockholm. [http://www.chgs.umn.edu/Educational_Resources/Curriculum/Stockholm_International_Forum/Judisk_Kronika/judisk_kronika.html Jewish Chronicle (Sweden)] ] Wallenberg is famous for saving tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Nazi Holocaust.

Controversy

Gordon got a lot of attention for his sculpture of "The meeting" ( _sv. Mötet) also known as: "Man with piece of meat - lying woman" (Swedish: "Man med köttstycke - liggande kvinna"). [http://www.artnet.com/artist/642650/willy-gordon.html Willy Gordon on artnet auction house] ] This work is located in Östermalmstorg square and is a controversial group of two modern sculptures that shows a naked male figure bearing a piece of meat on his shoulders before a recumbent female figure. The sculpture created a lot of controversy and was vandalised twice, the last time in December 2006.

Gordon also produced "The meeting" in miniature in limited numbers. Some of these signed miniatures exist and are sold by specialised art auction houses.He also donated a copy to Bommersvik college in Sweden, where it is displayed in its .

Many of Gordon's works such as ”Mötet” are highly stylised, influenced by Zadkine and also by other sculptors such as Eric Grate and Henry Moore.

Science

Willy Gordon also created sculptures of a scientific motif such as crystals and molecules. For example he created the sculpture of a protein molecule: "Carrier molecule," that depicts a protein chain. [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1968.tb20294.x Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Vol.146 Page 364 June 1968 Chemistry, Pharmacology, and Clinical Applications of Proteinase Inhibitors THE CHEMISTRY OF PROTEASES by Birger Blombäck (by subscription)] ]

International recognition

In 1990 together with an architect he won a competition for a monument in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius for the purpose of honouring its Jewish culture.

Publications

* Willy Gordon: "Willy Gordon sculpture et dessins 1941-1951", catalogue, 24 p.
* "Willy Gordon" (autobiography) (edited by June Rose; designed by Willy's wife Mona Gordon), Meta Bokproduktion, 112 p. chiefly ill., ports. 21 x 21 cm. c1976. Hebrew University SYSNO: 2220000. [http://ram1.huji.ac.il/ALEPH/ENG/NNL/NNL/NNL/FIND-ACC/2779266 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Book catalog entry on Willy Gordon] ]
*Gordon, W. (1976). Willy Gordon. Järna: Meta Bokproduktion, ISBN 91-85522-007 [http://worldcat.org/isbn/9185522007# Worldcat listing] ]

Cited references

References

* [http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Gordon Swedish Wikipedia article on Willy Gordon]
* [http://www.chgs.umn.edu/Educational_Resources/Curriculum/Stockholm_International_Forum/Judisk_Kronika/judisk_kronika.html Jewish Chronicle (Sweden)]

External links

* [http://www.lidingo.se/net/Lidingo+Stad+Ex/Turism/Sev%E4rdheter/Monumentet+%F6ver+Raoul+Wallenberg Wallenberg monument at www.lidingo.se]
* [http://www.mkbfastighet.se/upload/konstverk/Lorenborg.pdf "Rågskörd" (1968) at Lorenborg]
* [http://ram1.huji.ac.il/ALEPH/ENG/NNL/NNL/NNL/FIND-ACC/2779266 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Book catalog entry on Willy Gordon]