Amerigo Tot
BiographyARTWORKS FOR SALE
Biography
Amerigo Tot was mainly working as a sculptor. The Hungarian spent most of his life in Italy and he is among the few Hungarian artists, whose name was equally known in Italy and Hungary during his lifetime and is still known today. Amerigo Tot was born September 27 1909 in Fehérvárcsurgó. His family moved to Budapest n 1921 and in 1927 he was accepted at the Mintarajziskola (today the Academy of Applied Arts). He graduated with distincion in graphics in 1930. Ferenc Helbing, Gyula Kaesz and György Leszkocszky were his masters. From 1930 on, he was in the Bauhaus in Dessau. In 1933, he moved to the Hungarican Academy in Rome, with the help of a scholarship.
His most frequent motive are human beings arranged in a couple or a smaller group. The round women, which reappear in different situations, were based on one of his most famous sculpture-series, the „Gravel Women“. The lovers, which remind of Picasso – Amerigo Tot knew the artist personally – are, in their natural and self-evident poses, the expression of the communal being. The artist combines simplicity and creativity for his very own perspective of beauty.
He was working on international commissions. Among his works are f.ex. the relief of the front of the Roma Termini railway station and the relief in the Hungarian Chapel in the Vatikan. But he also created lithographies for the olympic commitee. In 1978 a permanten exhibition is opened in Pécs/Hungary. In the same year, he is elected member of the Italian Academy of Sciences. In 1929 he is awarded the Medal of the Hungarian Republic.
His last local exhibition was opened in the Vigadó in Budapest in the year 1982. Amerigo Tot dies on December 13 1984. He wa entombed at the Farkasrét cemetery in Budapest. The tombstone was done by Miklós Melocco and was placed in 1989.
| Year | Biography |
|---|---|
| 1909 | He was born in Fehérvárcsurgó (village in Fejér County) |
| 1927-1930 | Budapest College of Applied Arts |
| His teachers: Ferenc Helbing, Gyula Kaesz and György Leszkovszky | |
| 1931 | he was admitted to the Bauhaus in Dessau for a half year, in residential homes |
| 1933 | Dresden school |
| 1933 | He started to dealing with sculpture at the Hungarian Academy in Rome |
| 1940-1945 | He made the series of Gravelwoman |
| 1947 | He became artistic adviser of the Hungarian Academy in Rome |
| 1949 | He won the international tender of the Frisians of Termini station in Rome, |
| which made him famous in worldwide. | |
| 1950-1952 | He presents his works in Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden |
| until 1953 | He completed the Termini Frisians |
| 1966 | He won the tender of the Kennedy memorial in Rome |
| 1970-1980 | He taught on the Academy of Fine Arts in Bari |
| In 1974 | He prepared the Portrait of Pope Paul VI,and that chalice, which |
| was used by the Pope on the Holy Year opening celebrated mass | |
| His teachers: Lyonel Feininger, Josef Albers, Vaszilij Kandinszkij, Joost Schmidt, | |
| Gunta Stölzl, Alfred Arndt, Walter Peterhans and László Moholy-Nagy | |
| Awards | |
| 1927-1930 | Budapest College of Applied Arts |
| His teachers: Ferenc Helbing, Gyula Kaesz and György Leszkovszky | |
| 1931 | he was admitted to the Bauhaus in Dessau for a half year, in residential homes |
| 1933 | Dresden school |
| 1933 | He started to dealing with sculpture at the Hungarian Academy in Rome |
| 1940-1945 | He made the series of Gravelwoman |
| 1947 | He became artistic adviser of the Hungarian Academy in Rome |
| 1949 | He won the international tender of the Frisians of Termini station in Rome, |
| which made him famous in worldwide. | |
| 1950-1952 | He presents his works in Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden |
| 1947 | He became artistic adviser of the Hungarian Academy in Rome |
| 1949 | He won the international tender of the Frisians of Termini station in Rome, |
| which made him famous in worldwide. | |
| 1950-1952 | He presents his works in Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden |
| until 1953 | He completed the Termini Frisians |
| 1966 | He won the tender of the Kennedy memorial in Rome |
| 1970-1980 | He taught on the Academy of Fine Arts in Bari |
| In 1974 | He prepared the Portrait of Pope Paul VI,and that chalice, which |
| was used by the Pope on the Holy Year opening celebrated mass | |
| Awards | |
| 1938 | He was winner of the young Italian artists Prize, the „Premio per Giovani Artisti” |
| 1946 | Premio Saint Vincent prize |
| 1948 | Forte dei Marmi first prize. |
| 1950 | Mostra della Ricostruzione Sculpture Award |
| 1956 | The Roman Agricultural Exhibition (Mostra dell’ Agricoltura) first prize |
| 1979 | He was awarded by the Hungarian Republic, decorated with laurel, Flag Order |
| Exhibitions | |
| 2007 | Folders from Rome (MKE, Parthenon frieze Room, Epreskert, Budapest) |
| 2007 | Folders from Rome (Lamberg Castle, Mór) |
| 1982 | Vigadó Gallery, Budapest |
| 1978 | IV. Budapest International Small Sculpture Exhibition (Kunsthalle, Budapest) |
| 1973 | La Pancetta' (Bari) |
| 1973 | Palermo, Sicily |
| 1972 | Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Tokio |
| 1972 | Contemporary Italian Sculpture (Hakone, Japan) |
| 1971 | The Joseph M. Katz Collection (Pittsburgh, U.S.A.) |
| 1971 | Modern Italian Sculpture (Kunsthalle, Budapest) |
| 1970 | Quadriennale (Rome) |
| 1970 | Galleria d'Arte, Bari |
| 1969 | Szeged |
| 1969 | Debrecen |
| 1969 | Tihany |
