Nándor Wagner

Nandor Wagner (Hungarian: Wagner Nándor, 7 October 1922 – 15 November 1997, (Japanese: 真岡), nearby , ) was a Hungarian artist and sculptor. He was the son of a dentist, born in Oradea (Hungarian: Nagyvárad), now Romania. Wagner studied at Budapest Art Academy before and after World War II. He had three art periods as living in Hungary (1945–56), Sweden (1956–71) and Japan (1972–97) respectively. He became well known for his novel cast stainless steel sculptures made in Sweden and Japan.

He and his Japanese wife Chiyo Wagner established the TAO Research Institute of World Culture and Development, which continues to support education of young talented artists and promotion of the arts in . They also initiated the establishment of Academia Humana Foundation in Hungary, which has been operating since 1999.

He died in Moka near his studio on 15 November 1997. The place for his grave was selected and prepared by him in the garden of his Mashiko studio.

After the war in his studio at Ybl Bazár in Budapest he created statues: the Corpus Hungaricum, Attila József the poet and Sorrow of Mother among others. Jointly with Zoltán Farkasdy architect they won first prize with their plan titled Fountain with three boys at the competition for art composition to Jászai Mari square just at the foot of the Margit Bridge in 1955. Besides and parallel to making sculptures he organized the local historical collection at St. István Museum of Székesfehérvár with placing the objects found at excavations in a correctly reconstructed environment created by artist between 1952–56. This activity has been recognized and honored by the British Museum.

He gave courses in art to talented students who were refused to enter universities before the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. He was elected to be a board member of the Revolutionary Committee of the Artist during the revolution. He worded his adherence as: We who are working at the museums had only one oath: to protect the Hungarian culture with all our strength, without any condition! Called upon art students to take drawing tools instead of guns to record the moments of revolution on the streets for the future.

...
Wikipedia