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TOT, Amerigo
TOT, Amerigo [Tóth Imre]
sculptor
(27 Sept. 1909, Fehérvárcsurgó – 13 Dec. 1984, Rome)
1926–1928: College of Technical Arts, Budapest, masters Ferenc Helbing, György Leszkovszky. 1930: Bauhaus of Dessau, master: László Moholy-Nagy. Following the taking over of power by the Nazis, he arrived to Rome following an adventurous journey. In the same year he won the scholarship of the Roman Hungarian Academy, and lived and worked in the palace at Via Giulia until 1936. Afterwards he lived in the studio of Via Margutta, where later from the end of the 1950’s, but mainly from the 1960’s a number of Hungarian artists and art historians resided as guests. In 1936 he won the international tender for the design of the Scander Beg monument in Albania in 1937. The equestrian statue never came to fruition its plans were destroyed during the course of World War II. In 1939 he won second prize, following Pál Pátzay, for the design of the Madách memorial monument. Between 1943 and 1944 he fought against the Germans as an officer of the Italian resistance movement, also traveling to Yugoslavia and Hungary as a parachute liaison. After the war, during 1946 and 1949, he worked as an advisor at the Roman Hungary Academy. In 1949 he won the tender for the grand decorative frieze on the façade of the Termini Train Station of Rome, with which he founded his international fame. A number of invitations and commissions followed in the upcoming years in both Italy and elsewhere, and he was able to carry out more and more such orders. Of these the plastic decoration the luxury ocean yacht named Raffaello (1964-1965) stands out. He returned home to Hungry first in 1968, where he exhibited at a number of shows at the time. He presented the small sized sample of the 12x10 meter composition indented for Gödöllő entitled A mag apotheozisa /The apotheosis of the seed/ and the completed details thereof, at the Vigadó Gallery in 1982. In the first graphical works of his were linked to the style of Bauhaus, furthermore the influence of Paul Klee and Moholy-Nagy may be felt the most. When he arrived in Rome in 1933 he was grasped by the art of the renaissance with an elementary force. His works prepared up until the beginning of the 1940’s, including his portraits (dr. Lénárd képmása /The portraiture of Dr. Lénárd/, 1940) his small bronze statues (Táncoló bachánsnők /Dancing Bacchants/, 1938) and relief works (Utolsó vacsora /Last supper/, 1938-1939, in two versions) are all examples of his enchantment with this great period of history. Following the war, in 1946, he produced his famous Kavicsassyonok (Pebble-women) series, the grotesque design of which signals a new type of artistic interest. A few of his portraits (Bírnbaum professzor /Professor Bírnbaum/, 1946) and small sculptures (Ősanya /Progenitor/, 1948) bear testimony of his taking steps towards sculptural expressionism. His first completely recondite, abstract compositions are known from the end of the decade, from which the relief work of the Termini train station stands out primarily (1949–1953). After the completion of the train station work he made use of different style elements in more and more sovereign manner. In case the task or the commissioner requested so, he returned to using elements of Renaissance in a natural manner (A mezőgazdaság évadjai /The season of agriculture/, Bari, 1955-1956), while at other times he made use once again of the elements of abstract decoration (Kerámia-relief /Ceramic- relief/, at the Palazzo dello Sport, in Rome, 1959–1960). In his hometown of Fehérvárcsurgó he produced a traditional Madonna statue in 1969. During the 1960’s he produced an entire series of statues akin to tools and machinery, which, however, do not truly resemble any concrete object. The work entitled Föld füle /Ear of Earth/ erected in 1962, in front of the museum in Tihany, is a typical item from this series. With his generally eclectic behavior, choosing between styles in a quite self-determined manner he had a liberating influence upon almost the whole of Hungarian sculpturing. One-Man Shows:
1952, 1956, 1962 • participation in the italian pavilions of Venetian Biennials, Venice
1960 • participation in the Quadriennial of Rome, Rome
1966 • New York
1969 • Műcsarnok, Budapest • Tihany (HU) • Pécs (HU) • Szeged (HU) • Debrecen (HU)
1973 • Palermo
1978 • Permanent Exhibition, Pécs (HU)
1982 • Vigadó Gallery, Budapest Selected Group Exhibitions:
1958 • World Exhibition of Brussels, Brussels
1963 • Actualité de la Sculpture, Paris. Works in Public Places:
Memorial of the Bandieri Brothers [stone, 1948-1963, Cosenza (OL)]
The Railway (aluminium relief, 1949-1953, Termini Terminal, Rome)
Meteor (concrete, 1954-1960, Rome)
Il tavolliere (bronze portal, 1955-1956, Savings Bank, Bari)
The Monster Locomat (1958, World Exhibition of Brussels)
Tunel (concrete relief, 1959, Car Club, Rome)
Geometrical Muscles (ceramic relief, 1959-1960, Palace of Sport, Rome)
Ear of the Earth [bronze, 1969, Tihany (HU)]
From a german bunker - sculpture (1976, Anzio, OL)
Apotheosis of the Seed (metal relief, 1980, 5. distr., Budapest)
Apotheosis of the Seed [bronze relief, 1983, University of Agricultural Sciences, Gödöllő (HU)]
Microcosm in Macrocosm [1984, Kecskemét (HU)]. Works in Public Collections:
Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest. Bibliography:
Venturi, L.: Dodici litografie di Tot, Rome, 1960
Boeck, U.: Beispiele Europäischer Bauplastik vom Altertum bis zur Neuzeit, Tübingen, 1968
Major, M.: ~, Budapest, 1970
Bologna, M.: ~, Rome, 1976
Kovács, P.: A tegnap szobrai. Fejezetek a magyar szobrászat félmúltjából, Szombathely, 1992.
(Translation: Vladimir Végh)
sculptor
(27 Sept. 1909, Fehérvárcsurgó – 13 Dec. 1984, Rome)
1926–1928: College of Technical Arts, Budapest, masters Ferenc Helbing, György Leszkovszky. 1930: Bauhaus of Dessau, master: László Moholy-Nagy. Following the taking over of power by the Nazis, he arrived to Rome following an adventurous journey. In the same year he won the scholarship of the Roman Hungarian Academy, and lived and worked in the palace at Via Giulia until 1936. Afterwards he lived in the studio of Via Margutta, where later from the end of the 1950’s, but mainly from the 1960’s a number of Hungarian artists and art historians resided as guests. In 1936 he won the international tender for the design of the Scander Beg monument in Albania in 1937. The equestrian statue never came to fruition its plans were destroyed during the course of World War II. In 1939 he won second prize, following Pál Pátzay, for the design of the Madách memorial monument. Between 1943 and 1944 he fought against the Germans as an officer of the Italian resistance movement, also traveling to Yugoslavia and Hungary as a parachute liaison. After the war, during 1946 and 1949, he worked as an advisor at the Roman Hungary Academy. In 1949 he won the tender for the grand decorative frieze on the façade of the Termini Train Station of Rome, with which he founded his international fame. A number of invitations and commissions followed in the upcoming years in both Italy and elsewhere, and he was able to carry out more and more such orders. Of these the plastic decoration the luxury ocean yacht named Raffaello (1964-1965) stands out. He returned home to Hungry first in 1968, where he exhibited at a number of shows at the time. He presented the small sized sample of the 12x10 meter composition indented for Gödöllő entitled A mag apotheozisa /The apotheosis of the seed/ and the completed details thereof, at the Vigadó Gallery in 1982. In the first graphical works of his were linked to the style of Bauhaus, furthermore the influence of Paul Klee and Moholy-Nagy may be felt the most. When he arrived in Rome in 1933 he was grasped by the art of the renaissance with an elementary force. His works prepared up until the beginning of the 1940’s, including his portraits (dr. Lénárd képmása /The portraiture of Dr. Lénárd/, 1940) his small bronze statues (Táncoló bachánsnők /Dancing Bacchants/, 1938) and relief works (Utolsó vacsora /Last supper/, 1938-1939, in two versions) are all examples of his enchantment with this great period of history. Following the war, in 1946, he produced his famous Kavicsassyonok (Pebble-women) series, the grotesque design of which signals a new type of artistic interest. A few of his portraits (Bírnbaum professzor /Professor Bírnbaum/, 1946) and small sculptures (Ősanya /Progenitor/, 1948) bear testimony of his taking steps towards sculptural expressionism. His first completely recondite, abstract compositions are known from the end of the decade, from which the relief work of the Termini train station stands out primarily (1949–1953). After the completion of the train station work he made use of different style elements in more and more sovereign manner. In case the task or the commissioner requested so, he returned to using elements of Renaissance in a natural manner (A mezőgazdaság évadjai /The season of agriculture/, Bari, 1955-1956), while at other times he made use once again of the elements of abstract decoration (Kerámia-relief /Ceramic- relief/, at the Palazzo dello Sport, in Rome, 1959–1960). In his hometown of Fehérvárcsurgó he produced a traditional Madonna statue in 1969. During the 1960’s he produced an entire series of statues akin to tools and machinery, which, however, do not truly resemble any concrete object. The work entitled Föld füle /Ear of Earth/ erected in 1962, in front of the museum in Tihany, is a typical item from this series. With his generally eclectic behavior, choosing between styles in a quite self-determined manner he had a liberating influence upon almost the whole of Hungarian sculpturing. One-Man Shows:
1952, 1956, 1962 • participation in the italian pavilions of Venetian Biennials, Venice
1960 • participation in the Quadriennial of Rome, Rome
1966 • New York
1969 • Műcsarnok, Budapest • Tihany (HU) • Pécs (HU) • Szeged (HU) • Debrecen (HU)
1973 • Palermo
1978 • Permanent Exhibition, Pécs (HU)
1982 • Vigadó Gallery, Budapest Selected Group Exhibitions:
1958 • World Exhibition of Brussels, Brussels
1963 • Actualité de la Sculpture, Paris. Works in Public Places:
Memorial of the Bandieri Brothers [stone, 1948-1963, Cosenza (OL)]
The Railway (aluminium relief, 1949-1953, Termini Terminal, Rome)
Meteor (concrete, 1954-1960, Rome)
Il tavolliere (bronze portal, 1955-1956, Savings Bank, Bari)
The Monster Locomat (1958, World Exhibition of Brussels)
Tunel (concrete relief, 1959, Car Club, Rome)
Geometrical Muscles (ceramic relief, 1959-1960, Palace of Sport, Rome)
Ear of the Earth [bronze, 1969, Tihany (HU)]
From a german bunker - sculpture (1976, Anzio, OL)
Apotheosis of the Seed (metal relief, 1980, 5. distr., Budapest)
Apotheosis of the Seed [bronze relief, 1983, University of Agricultural Sciences, Gödöllő (HU)]
Microcosm in Macrocosm [1984, Kecskemét (HU)]. Works in Public Collections:
Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest. Bibliography:
Venturi, L.: Dodici litografie di Tot, Rome, 1960
Boeck, U.: Beispiele Europäischer Bauplastik vom Altertum bis zur Neuzeit, Tübingen, 1968
Major, M.: ~, Budapest, 1970
Bologna, M.: ~, Rome, 1976
Kovács, P.: A tegnap szobrai. Fejezetek a magyar szobrászat félmúltjából, Szombathely, 1992.
(Translation: Vladimir Végh)
