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Ad Code: 4
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An example of work by Bela Bacsi
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Inspired by classical sculpture, Bela Bacsi works in marble and bronze
that combine styles and subject matter of realistic figure and
abstraction. He was born in Gyor, Hungary in 1956, and came to an
area near Akron, Ohio, with his family in 1956 at the time of the
Hungarian Revolution. As a young man, he left home and returned
to Europe where, in his words, he "bummed around."
He decided to
become a stone carver, which was a family tradition as several of his
uncles in Hungary had worked in that profession with one uncle
specializing in the restoration of castles. To get training, he
worked for minimum wage in a Cleveland architectural firm to learn
plaster mould making, and shortly after was head of the company's
sculpture department. In 1978, he spent time in the small town of
Pietrasanta, Italy, mecca for stone sculptors, and worked at the studio
of Ferdinando Palla, a master of architectural ornamentation who later
was responsible for the decorative stone work of the Getty Museum in
Malibu.
Back in Cleveland, Bacsi worked in a bronze foundry for
two years, and then returned to Pietrasanta to study classic techniques
of marble with Ledo Tarterelle and Mauro Spadacchini, both masters from
whom he learned the ancient ways of stone carving. Although Bacsi
sometimes does sculpture in bronze, his great love is working with
marble. "There is a fluidity, a meditative quality to picking up a four
and a half pound hammer or a point chisel and chipping away at stone."
From
the mid 1980s, Bacsi has taught sculpting including from his studio in
Santa Barbara. Most of his classes are clay modeling, but he does teach
stone sculpture to advanced students.
In May, 2001, Bela Bacsi
was awarded the Gold Medal in Sculpture by the California Art Club for
his "Driver of the Wheel," a human form emerging from a disk.
Source: "Bela Bacsi Artist and Master Craftsman" by Molly Siple. CALIFORNIA ART CLUB NEWSLETTER, December 2001. | |
Biography from American Legacy Fine Arts:
|  Béla Bácsi was born in Gyor, Hungary. At age six, he and his
family moved to the United States. Continuing the family’s long
tradition as stone carvers, Bácsi took an interest in carving at an
early age. Essentially self-taught, in 1978, Bácsi gained employment at
the Studio Ferdinando Palla in Pietrasanta, Italy, where he became an
“ornamentista” or fine detail carver. Returning to the U.S. and
settling in Cleveland, Ohio, he then worked as an architectural
ornamental master designer at Fischer and Jirouch Architectural
Ornamentation and as a bronze foundryman at the nationally acclaimed
Studio Foundry. Eventually, Bácsi opened his own sculpture studio
and now lives and works in Santa Barbara, California.
In 1999,
Bácsi was awarded both the Gold Medal and Maurice B. Hexter Prize at
the National Sculpture Society Members’ Exhibition in New York
City. He received the California Art Club Gold Medal for Best
Sculpture at the 91st Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition in
2001. He won the California Art Club Gold Medal for best
Sculpture again at the 96th Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition in
2007.
Bácsi holds a California Community Colleges teaching certificate for
adult education programs and has taught at Santa Barbara City College
and offers private classes. In addition, he serves as an adviser
to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Docents’ Council.
Béla Bácsi
is a Fellow of the National Sculpture Society and
a Signature Artist Member of the California Art Club.
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Bela Bacsi is also mentioned in these AskART essays:
The California Art Club
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