- András Beck
András Beck (1911 - 1985) was a Hungarian
sculptor . He was noted for hissymbolic and expressionistbronze statuettes and portrait busts.Beck was born in
Alsógöd in 1911. His father an artist Ödön Fülöp Beck trained him from a young age and he later became a pupil ofZsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl at the Hungarian Art School for three years where he his talent began to flourish. He left on a study trip toBerlin and thenLondon where his early works were exhibited. In 1947 Beck was appointed the President of the Trade Union of Hungarian Artists, subsequently leaving forParis where in 1948 he was became teacher of the Art School. [ [http://hungart.euroweb.hu/english/b/beck_a/index.html BECK, András ] ]From the 1930s he became well known for his expressionist sculpture, creating plaquettes of
Árpád Tóth ,Bartók ,Móricz , andThomas Mann . Between 1945 and 1955 he was hired to sculpt figures for display in various towns and cities. Settling permanently inParis in 1956, in 1963 his lyrical works were exhibited at the Galerie Lambert.In the late 1960s he created "Refugees" (1967) and "Dance" (1969) and his famous "Masque de Saint-John Perse" bronze mask of writer
Saint-John Perse .By the late 1970s he was employed at the Mint in Paris where a number of his works were exhibited but retired from active sculpture creation in 1980.
He died in
Paris in 1985 in a car accident.His 3.5m tall statue commemorating
Jan Palach should have been transported from France to theCzech Republic byNicolas Sarkozy in June 2008 as a gift but it was not accepted by the Czechs. [Lidové noviny, 12/06/2008: [http://www.lidovky.cz/ln-cesi-odmitli-sarkozyho-dar-d23-/ln_zahranici.asp?c=A080612_191032_ln_zahranici_nev] ]References
External links
* [http://www.sjperse.org/beck.htm Beck's sculpture in France]
* [http://hungart.euroweb.hu/english/b/beck_a/index.html Hungarian art]
* [http://www.gjp1.cz/new/?l=301 model of Palach's statue that was not good enough for Prague]
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