Frank Varga (born Ferenc Csaba Varga; June 18, 1943April 14, 2018) was a Hungarian-American sculptor. He was the only child of the artist
Ferenc Varga and his wife Anna Pázman Varga.
Biography
Varga was born in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, Hungary. In 1951, when he was eight years old, Varga's family emigrated from Hungary to
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...
, Canada, where the elder Varga had already established a studio.
From Windsor, the family moved across the
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
to
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
. From an early age, Frank worked in his father's studio, learning his craft. He served as an apprentice on many of his father's works. In 1964 Varga attended the
Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, where he studied under Italian sculptor,
Antonio Berti. He also discovered a love of Italy.
In 1970 he established his own studio in
Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Grosse Pointe is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the city had a population of 5,421.
Grosse Pointe is an eastern suburb of Metro Detroit along Lake ...
. At this time, he began to teach the art of sculpting. In 1983 he moved to
Delray Beach, Florida
Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach as of April 1, 2020 was 66,846 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 United States Census. Located 52 miles ...
, to take over his father's studio. Every year, Varga traveled to
Carrara
Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some Boxing the compass, west-northwest o ...
in Italy with his students to help them learn to sculpt in
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...
.
Varga served as a mentor to many younger artists.
Varga's works are in private collections, but he also accepted a number of public commissions. He also accepted commissions for religious and private institutions, museums and galleries.
In 2018, Varga was honored with a review of his work at the
Cornell Museum of Art in Delray Beach.
After his death, Varga's son Michael took over the operation of the studio, continuing the family tradition.
Selected works
Over the course of his career, Varga created hundreds of works.
* ''The Hurricane'' (1976),
Belle Glade, Florida
[* ]
* ''
Auswandererdenkmal
The ''Auswandererdenkmal'' (German for ''Emigrant Memorial'') is a statue in the port of Bremerhaven, Germany, that depicts an emigrant family. Cast in bronze, it shows an emigrant family with the father looking forward toward the New World and t ...
'' (1986),
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...
*Barefoot mailman statue at
Hillsboro Inlet Light
Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on the north side of Hillsboro Inlet, midway between Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, in Hillsboro Beach, Florida. The light marks the northern limit of the Florida Reef, an underwater coral forma ...
*General Alexander Macomb in Detroit
Gallery
File:Havenwelten bremerhaven 2019-04-18 -3.jpg, Das Auswandererdenkmal in Bremerhaven
File:Italian-Immigrants-to-Canad.jpg, Italian Immigrants to Canada
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Varga, Frank
American male sculptors
Artists from Budapest
1943 births
2018 deaths