Helen Zelezny-Scholz
Encyclopedia
Helen Zelezny, also known in Europe as Helene Zelezny-Scholz or Helene Scholzová-Železná (August 16, 1882 – February 18, 1974), was a Czech
born sculptor and architectural sculptor.
She was a very significant representative of the art of sculpture in Europe at the end of the nineteenth and the first half the twentieth centuries.
She is also known as an Italian
sculptor as she lived and created in Rome
, where she was critically acclaimed, for a number of years. She is also known variously as Helena Zelezny-Scholz, or Helen Scholz.
Her mother was the well-known writer and poetess Maria Stona
At the outbreak of the war in 1914 she went to Vienna, where she assumed a position which might be designated as that of Court Sculptor, many portraits of the Imperial family, including the Empress Zita, emerged from her hands.
Returning in 1919 to Italy, having in the interval married Colonel Zelezny, she worked at first in Florence, then in Rome.
She had her studio in Via Margutta No. 54 http://www.romeluxurysuites.com/margutta/about-en.html from 1922 until her death in 1974, usually spending the summer months in her native country.
Her sculptures has been exhibited in Paris, Vienna, Rome, Prague, Philadelphia, Venice and many other places. Her work has place in public galleries and private collections all over Europe and USA.
Unfortunately several of her sculptures were destroyed during the Second World War, among these being the great central altar, representing the life of St. Hedvige, in the Church dedicated to that saint in Troppau, Sudetenland.
Helene Zelezny-Scholz has made more than 300 portraits in marble, bronze and terracotta (busts, reliefs and statuettes), in which she not only renders a striking likeliness, but reflects the soul of the person, the individual secret beauty of each.
She was a fine teacher for more than 1,000 pupils in her lifetime, developing the individuality in each of them.
When she returned to Florence after the First World War she started with her first pupils, mostly children. Until the Second World War here pupils were only young girls.
Later when she went to USA (1946–1949) she taught in five different mixed classes at Art Centres in and near Philadelphia, as for instance at the Museum of Art and at Swarthmore Collage.
From 1949 until her death she had regular classes in her old studio in Rome. In that period she managed to teach more than 700 pupils of different sex, different age and from 12 nations.
Work from some of the student can be seen in her own book “My dear Pupils” from 1973.
city, Austrian Silesia
. She studied drawing
in Vienna
and Dresden
, and sculpture
in Berlin
under Fritz Heinemann (1864–1932), and four years in Brussels
under sculptor Charles van der Stappen
. Van der Stappen was a portrait and decorative sculpturer, as Zelezny is known for. 1912 in Ostrava, she organized an exhibition of his works.
After one year of study in Paris, she settled down in Florence, at that time the Mecca of young artists. From 1909 to 1913 she learned a lot from Augusto Giacometti whom she also joined to his native home in Switzerland. In 1912 he made a portrait of Helene Scholz.
Other artist she was she was in regular contact with was Hans Kestranek (Philosoph, Architect and Painter, 1873–1949), Edward Gordon Craig
and Julius Rolshoven
.
Subsequently in 1913 she made a long stay in Tunis, finding opportunity there to visit the Musselmen harems and become acquainted with their inmates and customs, an experience which found expression in many characteristic groups and statuettes.
In 1913 Zelezny in Tunis
among other things sculpted the outside of a house. Georg Brandes
joined her here for 14 days. During this stay she made a small statuette of Georg Brandes.
In the same year she portrayed Cardinal Knopp , killed in the Castle Hill Jansky
She moved to Vienna at the beginning of the First World War
.
She was the most significant representative of the sculpture of north Moravia and Silesia beside Josef Obeth at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.
Her sculptures largely featured sculpted portraits, including members of the Habsburg family, Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Lady Sybil Grahamová,"Il Duce" Benito Mussolini
, and 1st President of Czechoslovakia
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1932).
She was also commissioned to sculpt monuments such as one to victims of the First World War.
She exhibited in an international exhibitions in Berlin and Vienna (1907), in Rome in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery
(1932), and in Paris.
Helene Scholz-Zelezny died in Rome 1974 and is buried at The Protestant Cemetery. (Stone 1863 - See plan http://www.dkinst-rom.dk/protcem/work/plan.pdf)
Zelezny has work maintained in the permanent collection of the castle Hradec nad Moravicí
, several pieces in the Museum Silesie http://www.szmo.cz/ in Opava
, some works in Gallery of the Fine Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts http://www.gvuostrava.cz/ in Ostrava
, and in the National Gallery in Prague
in addition to private collections.
In the Antonín Dvořák Theatre in Ostrava two reliefs in the main foyer of the theatre, were donated by academic sculptor Helena Scholzová
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
born sculptor and architectural sculptor.
She was a very significant representative of the art of sculpture in Europe at the end of the nineteenth and the first half the twentieth centuries.
She is also known as an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
sculptor as she lived and created in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, where she was critically acclaimed, for a number of years. She is also known variously as Helena Zelezny-Scholz, or Helen Scholz.
Her mother was the well-known writer and poetess Maria Stona
Maria Stona
Maria Stona; Marie Scholz; born Stonawski was a Silesian German writer and poet.She drew into her circles many noticeable persons, world-famous artists, politicians and writers such as Georg Brandes, Georges Clemenceau, Berta von Suttner, Flinders Petrie, Stefan Zweig, being among her guests in...
At the outbreak of the war in 1914 she went to Vienna, where she assumed a position which might be designated as that of Court Sculptor, many portraits of the Imperial family, including the Empress Zita, emerged from her hands.
Returning in 1919 to Italy, having in the interval married Colonel Zelezny, she worked at first in Florence, then in Rome.
She had her studio in Via Margutta No. 54 http://www.romeluxurysuites.com/margutta/about-en.html from 1922 until her death in 1974, usually spending the summer months in her native country.
Her sculptures has been exhibited in Paris, Vienna, Rome, Prague, Philadelphia, Venice and many other places. Her work has place in public galleries and private collections all over Europe and USA.
Unfortunately several of her sculptures were destroyed during the Second World War, among these being the great central altar, representing the life of St. Hedvige, in the Church dedicated to that saint in Troppau, Sudetenland.
Helene Zelezny-Scholz has made more than 300 portraits in marble, bronze and terracotta (busts, reliefs and statuettes), in which she not only renders a striking likeliness, but reflects the soul of the person, the individual secret beauty of each.
She was a fine teacher for more than 1,000 pupils in her lifetime, developing the individuality in each of them.
When she returned to Florence after the First World War she started with her first pupils, mostly children. Until the Second World War here pupils were only young girls.
Later when she went to USA (1946–1949) she taught in five different mixed classes at Art Centres in and near Philadelphia, as for instance at the Museum of Art and at Swarthmore Collage.
From 1949 until her death she had regular classes in her old studio in Rome. In that period she managed to teach more than 700 pupils of different sex, different age and from 12 nations.
Work from some of the student can be seen in her own book “My dear Pupils” from 1973.
Life
Zelezny was born in Chropyně and raised in village Třebovice (Strzebowitz), now part of OstravaOstrava
Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the second largest urban agglomeration after Prague. Located close to the Polish border, it is also the administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region and of the Municipality with Extended Competence. Ostrava was candidate for the...
city, Austrian Silesia
Austrian Silesia
Austrian Silesia , officially the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia was an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Empire, from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...
. She studied drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, and sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
under Fritz Heinemann (1864–1932), and four years in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
under sculptor Charles van der Stappen
Charles van der Stappen
Charles van der Stappen , was a Belgian sculptor, born in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode.- Life :Educated at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels , van der Stappen's contribution to the Brussels Salon was "The Faun's Toilet" of 1869, and thereafter he began to produce work of a high and novel...
. Van der Stappen was a portrait and decorative sculpturer, as Zelezny is known for. 1912 in Ostrava, she organized an exhibition of his works.
After one year of study in Paris, she settled down in Florence, at that time the Mecca of young artists. From 1909 to 1913 she learned a lot from Augusto Giacometti whom she also joined to his native home in Switzerland. In 1912 he made a portrait of Helene Scholz.
Other artist she was she was in regular contact with was Hans Kestranek (Philosoph, Architect and Painter, 1873–1949), Edward Gordon Craig
Edward Gordon Craig
Edward Henry Gordon Craig , sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, director and scenic designer, as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings...
and Julius Rolshoven
Julius Rolshoven
Julius Rolshoven was a well-traveled American painter, with work firmly in the academic tradition.Rolshoven was born and raised in Detroit...
.
Subsequently in 1913 she made a long stay in Tunis, finding opportunity there to visit the Musselmen harems and become acquainted with their inmates and customs, an experience which found expression in many characteristic groups and statuettes.
In 1913 Zelezny in Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
among other things sculpted the outside of a house. Georg Brandes
Georg Brandes
Georg Morris Cohen Brandes was a Danish critic and scholar who had great influence on Scandinavian and European literature from the 1870s through the turn of the 20th century. He is seen as the theorist behind the "Modern Breakthrough" of Scandinavian culture...
joined her here for 14 days. During this stay she made a small statuette of Georg Brandes.
In the same year she portrayed Cardinal Knopp , killed in the Castle Hill Jansky
She moved to Vienna at the beginning of the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
She was the most significant representative of the sculpture of north Moravia and Silesia beside Josef Obeth at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.
Her sculptures largely featured sculpted portraits, including members of the Habsburg family, Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Lady Sybil Grahamová,"Il Duce" Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
, and 1st President of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1932).
She was also commissioned to sculpt monuments such as one to victims of the First World War.
She exhibited in an international exhibitions in Berlin and Vienna (1907), in Rome in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery
Doria Pamphilj Gallery
The Doria Pamphilj Gallery is a large art collection housed in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Rome, Italy. It is situated between the Via del Corso and Via della Gatta. The principal entrance is on the Via del Corso...
(1932), and in Paris.
Helene Scholz-Zelezny died in Rome 1974 and is buried at The Protestant Cemetery. (Stone 1863 - See plan http://www.dkinst-rom.dk/protcem/work/plan.pdf)
Works
- The Thoughtful, bronze, 1906, the castle Raduň http://guide.turistik.cz/castle-radun.htm
- The Melancholia, 1906, bronze, 1906, the castle Raduň http://guide.turistik.cz/castle-radun.htm
- Allegory of the Drama and Music, 1907, town theatre in Moravská OstravaOstravaOstrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the second largest urban agglomeration after Prague. Located close to the Polish border, it is also the administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region and of the Municipality with Extended Competence. Ostrava was candidate for the...
(smashed); - Alois Scholzes tomb with the Allegory of the Sorrow, 1908-9, Gratz;
- Small statuette Charles van der StappenCharles van der StappenCharles van der Stappen , was a Belgian sculptor, born in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode.- Life :Educated at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels , van der Stappen's contribution to the Brussels Salon was "The Faun's Toilet" of 1869, and thereafter he began to produce work of a high and novel...
1909 (Her teacher for 4 years) - 2 Small statuettes and a bust Georg BrandesGeorg BrandesGeorg Morris Cohen Brandes was a Danish critic and scholar who had great influence on Scandinavian and European literature from the 1870s through the turn of the 20th century. He is seen as the theorist behind the "Modern Breakthrough" of Scandinavian culture...
1913. They travelled together to Tunis where the statuettes and bust were made during their fortnight stay there. - Allegory justice, 1914, judicial building, FryštátFryštátis a town in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic, now administratively a part of the city of Karviná. Until 1948 it was a separate town. It lies on the Olza River, in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia....
; - tomb sculpture on the grave dr. Ostrčil, 1924, Praha-Olšany;
- cenotaph, 1930, Těšín (smash);
- The Common and Feast Days, bronze, 1933, gallery in Ostrava
- Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937), bronze, 1933, Museum Silesie in Opava
- The Slovak Family, bronze, 1933, the castle Raduň
- cycle of 10 reliefs of the life the saintliness, 1936, church St. Hedvika, Opava;
- Pope Paul VIPope Paul VIPaul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
, 1967
Zelezny has work maintained in the permanent collection of the castle Hradec nad Moravicí
Hradec nad Moravicí
Hradec nad Moravicí is a town in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic located about 8 km south of Opava. It has cca 5,150 inhabitants. The town is dominated by a castle complex....
, several pieces in the Museum Silesie http://www.szmo.cz/ in Opava
Opava
Opava is a city in the northern Czech Republic on the river Opava, located to the north-west of Ostrava. The historical capital of Czech Silesia, Opava is now in the Moravian-Silesian Region and has a population of 59,843 as of January 1, 2005....
, some works in Gallery of the Fine Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts http://www.gvuostrava.cz/ in Ostrava
Ostrava
Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the second largest urban agglomeration after Prague. Located close to the Polish border, it is also the administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region and of the Municipality with Extended Competence. Ostrava was candidate for the...
, and in the National Gallery in Prague
National Gallery in Prague
The National Gallery in Prague is a state-owned art gallery in Prague, Czech Republic. It is housed in different locations within the city, the largest being the Veletržní Palác....
in addition to private collections.
In the Antonín Dvořák Theatre in Ostrava two reliefs in the main foyer of the theatre, were donated by academic sculptor Helena Scholzová
Quotations
- "Death is but a concept of misunderstood life: it does not exist. Everything is resurrection, change, eternity"