Ferenc Kalmar (1928-2013) was a Serbian and Hungarian

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, living in

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

. He died in 2013.

Biography

Ferenc Kalmar was born in Subotica (

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

) on 25 May 1928. He began doing sculptures in 1947. He had his first solo exhibition in Subotica in 1956. During more than six decades of rich creative work he produced a unique oeuvre which revealed his inquisitive and exploitative mind. His universality is seen in his interest in various materials:

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

and frequent change of medium, until his ultimate surrender to raw, magnetic energy of the unity of painting and sculpture, expressed in coloured wood

sculptures Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. He died in his

atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or ...

in Subotica (

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

) in 2013.

Artistic style

At the beginning of the eighties, coloured wood successfully and permanently ranked Ferenc Kalmar among artists of

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrate ...

. His journey to the United States (in the early eighties) when he was fascinated with the art of distant

Indian culture Indian culture is the heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts and technologies that originated in or are associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse India. The term al ...

, Mayan art and reliefs on Egyptian

tombstones A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, ...

stimulated new sources of inspiration, changed his philosophy of living and artistic perception. He watched

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

ritual dances Ceremonial dance is a major category or classification of dance forms or dance styles, where the purpose is ceremonial or ritualistic. It is related to and overlaps with sacred dance and ecstatic dance. Definition History Description Li ...

where

exotic dancers A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or an "exot ...

decorated with feathers, flowers and turquoise flitted like birds in the wind.N. Krstić, Outsiders, catalogue, MNMU, Jagodina, 2013 As an explicitly authentic artist, the explorer of primordial unity, in the era of incredible speed and smoke of high technologies he provided us with the reminiscences of lost dimensions of everlasting childhood. With deep and surface incisions, the artist achieved the dynamics of closed and open, sharp and rounded forms, a dance of light and shadow. He coloured his figures with strong and bright tint and frequent interchanges of red and green, blue and yellow. The colour always followed the development of volume, whether related to gorgeous branching or delicately stylized and calm forms. The combination of the sculptural and the pictorial bears witness of the artist's complexity and expressiveness with additional help of naturally "blooming" forms, and nearly fauvist, wild tint. Kalmar the sculptor is sometimes overmastered by Kalmar the painter! The mere procedure of embodiment of the artist’s idea is an indispensable ritual where the artist and wood intertwine, surrender, snatch and combine. Animals are basic objects of Kalmar's inspiration:

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s, bugs, lizards, grasshoppers, butterflies. His artistic ''credo'' is fully expressed in monumental and brightly painted birds. “Birds are divine creatures. Man is astonished with their grace and tenderness. Monuments should be erected to these beautiful creatures because our generations may be the last who are lucky to listen to nightingales in nature” he used to say.N. Krstić, Outsider Art in Serbia, monograph, MNMA, Јагодина, 2014, pp. 108-113.

Exhibitions and awards

The numerous collection of his sculptures is at Museum of Naïve and Marginal Art (MNMA), Jagodina, Serbia. He exhibited worldwide and he was awarded several times. The most significant awards are ''Forum’s Prize for Art''

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

, 1993) and the ''Award for Entire Artistic Work'' at th
Thirteenth International Biennial of Naïve and Marginal Art
MNMA, Jagodina, 2007.

Gallery

Kalmar Ferenc, Vatrena ptica.jpg, ''Firebird'', 1996
colored wood, height 40 cm
MNMA
Jagodina Kalmar Ferenc, Lešinar.jpg, ''Vulture'', 2000
colored wood, 70x54cm
MNMA
Jagodina Kalmar Ferenc, Dirigent.jpg, ''Conductor'', 2009
colored wood, height 112 cm
MNMA
Jagodina Kalmar Ferenc, Trzaj.jpg, ''Twitch'', n. a.
colored wood, height 46 cm
MNMA
Jagodina Kalmar Ferenc, Šta je iza?.jpg, ''What is behind?'' 200
MNMA
Jagodina

References

Literature

* Krstić, N (2003) ''Naïve Art of Serbia''. Belgrade
SASA
- Jagodina: MNMA * Krstić, N (2007) ''Naïve and Marginal Art of Serbia''. Jagodina: MNMA * Krstić, N (2013) ''Outsiders''. Catalog. Jagodina: MNMA * Krstić, N (2014) ''Outsider Art in Serbia''. Jagodina: MNMA

External links

* ttp://www.marginalart.rs OUTSIDER ARTISTS IN THE COLLECTION OF MNMA {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalmar, Ferenc Outsider artists Naïve art Serbian sculptors Male sculptors Hungarian sculptors Serbian painters Artists from Subotica Hungarians in Vojvodina 1928 births 2013 deaths