Johann Fadrusz

Johann Fadrusz

Johann Fadrusz (born September 2, 1858 in Preßburg , Kingdom of Hungary , † October 26, 1903 in Budapest , Austria-Hungary ) was a Hungarian sculptor.

Model of the crucifix "Consummatum est!"

Life

Early years

Johann Fadrusz was the son of a poor cheese maker who immigrated from Moravia and who immigrated to Pressburg in the early 1850s. Here Johann Franz Fadrusz received the right of home on July 23, 1853. On August 1, 1858, he married Therese Ewinger, the daughter of a winemaker from Pressburg . The eldest son Johann saw the light of day in the Preßburger Schloss-Strasse. His mother later ran a small grocer's shop in the Blumenthal district on what was then Landstrasse 67. Even as a schoolboy, he attracted attention with his talent for drawing. After his military service in Prague , he worked in wood carving and porcelain painting. However, he turned down a job offer as a porcelain painter in the porcelain factory in Herend . In his youth, Fadrusz kept himself afloat by practicing various professions, and eventually learned the locksmith's trade. However, his inclination and interest in the fine arts made itself felt at a young age. In 1883 he drew attention to himself at an art exhibition by making a plaster head ( Ahasuerus ). The Hungarian Minister of Education Ágoston Trefort granted him a special scholarship . His artistic talent was demonstrated by the music and art lover, the Pressburg archivist Johann Nepomuk Batka the Elder. J. recognized. At Batka's mediation, Fadrusz left Pressburg for Vienna in 1886 in order to receive artistic lessons from the Viennese sculptor Viktor Tilgner . Then from 1888 Fadrusz became a student at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts with the Viennese sculptor Edmund von Hellmer , who held a professorship for sculpture there from 1882. The Erste Pressburger Sparcassa granted him a scholarship for his studies . In Vienna he met Baroness Therese Biard, with whom he fell madly in love. However, his love was not returned by the baroness. After this disappointment, he met Anna Deréky, who lived in Vienna and whom he later married. In Vienna he also learned the Hungarian language from his wife and thereupon developed a strong Hungarian national consciousness.

Artistic work

His thesis became one of his best works, which has made him known nationwide. He became known nationwide for the crucifix with corpus, which the young Fadrusz created in Hellmer's workshop in 1891 and for which he received the 1000 guilders “Grand Prize” from the Hungarian Society of Fine Arts in Budapest . The creation of the life-size corpus of the Christ figure had the following history: At a fair, Fadrusz hired an acrobat to model his figure of Christ. He tied it to a cross to study the anatomy of the body. When the acrobat could not endure this ordeal, Fadrusz had himself tied to the cross. Using photos, he created his crucified figure of Christ, which is one of the most important works of art in the Kingdom of Hungary. It's a dying, not dead Christ! The artist attached particular importance to this statement; therefore he named his work: Consummatum est! [German "It is finished!"]. Of the Christ, which was initially created in duplicate, one version came into the possession of the Pressburg Evangelical Church Community AB , the second composition came to the Blumenthaler Church . This original plaster cast can still be viewed today at the end of the north transept. The Hungarian Minister of Education Albin Graf Csáky was so enthusiastic about the work of art that he had a marble copy made for the Budapest St. Stephen's Basilica , which can be seen today in the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest. In the period that followed, further reproductions of this cross were made, which can be found in various churches in old Hungary. A Fadrusz crucifix was only brought to Segedin Cathedral in 1971 .

Maria Theresa Monument in Pressburg

The former Maria Theresa monument in Preßburg (was destroyed by Czechoslovak legions in 1921 )

Fadrusz was already in Vienna when, in 1892, an artist competition for the creation of a coronation memorial in honor of Empress Maria Theresa was announced by the Bratislava city council. The memorial was to be erected exactly on the site of the former coronation hill. His friend Eugen Engyeli, the editor-in-chief of the Grenzbote, wrote him a letter. Fadrusz traveled to Pressburg, he applied and received the contract.

In Vienna , Fadrusz first created a wax model of the equestrian statue and did not want to show his creation to anyone.

“Engyeli will later go to Vienna and see Fadrusz. Fadrusz evades, doesn't want to reveal anything and finally shows it to his friend, who reveals everything. It is the finished model in wax. But the imperial rider on a graceful, prancing Arabian horse. Engyeli draws the artist's attention to the fact that in Vienna people ride on heavy Spanish court horses, whereupon Fadrusz kneads the Arab stallion again and models that broad, heavy animal on which the figure of the empress then appears even more powerful and majestic. So Engyeli becomes the godfather of the horse, because soon afterwards Fadrusz wrote to him verbatim: 'You are the father of the horse' ” Eugen Holly later reported on the time when the monument was created.

Emperor Franz Joseph I was also  present at the ceremonial unveiling of the monument on May 16, 1897  . He appeared in dress uniform in the presence of the entire court. Numerous dignitaries and public figures also appeared. Archduke Friedrich  von Habsburg, who lives in Pressburg,  was also present with his family.

This monument  did not last long after the collapse of  Austria-Hungary  and the emergence of  Czechoslovakia . After the occupation of the city by Czechoslovak legionaries in early 1919, the city ​​magistrate of Bratislava had  the monument encased with wooden boards for "security reasons". However, this measure was of no use, as it was destroyed by Czechoslovak legionnaires on the night of October 20-21, 1921, as it was an object from the time of the Danube Monarchy .

Monument of Matthias Corvinus in Cluj-Napoca

Monument to Matthias Corvinus in Cluj-Napoca (1902)

After completing the Maria Theresa monument, Fadrusz moved to Budapest. Here he worked as a successful artist, on various sculptures. The city of Cluj intended to have a monument erected for King Matthias Corvinus . An artist competition was announced, which Fadrusz won. He was commissioned to create a monumental monument to King Matthias Corvinus. The monument was to be placed in the main square in Cluj-Napoca. It was a huge equestrian statue that should represent the king at the moment of victory. The king is flanked on both sides by two figures from Hungarian history. These were the military leaders of his famous elite troop "Legio Nigro" (The "Black Regiment"): Balázs Magyar , Pál Kinizsi , Stephan (István) Báthory de Ecsed and Stephan Szapolyai .

The inauguration of the monument on October 12, 1902 became a national festival. The Hungarian government, as well as representatives of the aristocracy and high nobility took part. For this work he received the honorary citizenship of the city of Cluj-Napoca.

Last years

Fadrusz took part in an artist competition to erect a memorial to the dead Empress Elisabeth . But it was no longer carried out. He died suddenly on October 26, 1903 of complications from pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 45. He found his final resting place in the " Kerepesi temető " cemetery in Budapest. The crucifix he created in 1891 forms his gravestone.

literature

• P. Rainer Rudolf, Eduard Ulreich: Karpatendeutsches Biographisches Lexikon. Working group of the Carpathian Germans from Slovakia, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-927096-00-8 , p. 79.
• Anton Klipp: Pressburg. New views on an old city. Karpatendeutsches Kulturwerk, Karlsruhe 2010, ISBN 978-3-927020-15-3 .

Web links

[1] Ešte raz o Fadruszovi ... in "Bratislavské rožky.sk" (Slovak) (accessed on May 3, 2019)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The couple had ten children, but only five of them reached adulthood. Johann had four younger siblings: Barbara, Luise, Ludwig and Karl.
2. ↑ The Preßburger Schloss-Strasse ( Slov. Zámocká utica) used to be the royal route to the Preßburger Schloss . In the 1960s, the communist rulers at the time ordered all the houses on this street to be demolished. After the Velvet Revolution , a reconstruction of this street began, but with very little success.
3. ↑ Pressburger Wegweiser 1882, p. 117
4. ↑ ^{a b} Quoted from Eugen Holly: Destiny of a Monuments , printed in the Heimatblatt of the KDL, vol. 52, May / June 2001.
5. ↑ Eugen Holly (* 1856 in Stampfen , † 1964 in Budapest) journalist from the interwar period and publisher of the Preßburger Zeitung and the Grenzbote. Fought vehemently for the questions of the Germans in Czecho-Slovakia. In 1939 he moved to Budapest, where he worked as an editor at Pester Lloyd . After 1945 he could not cope with the changed political situation and wanted to move to Vienna, which he was refused to do.
6. ^ Text based on Anton Klipp: Preßburg ..., p. 194ff