Studio: international art (54.1912)

Isidore Konti

to his Fatherland he has ever since remained in
America. Since 1893 he has resided in New York
City.

Konti Izidor—to give him his correct Hungarian
name, for in Hungary the baptismal name follows
that of the family—was born in Vienna of
Hungarian parents in 1862. His father had
fought for his country against Austria in the
Revolution of '48 which terminated so disas-
trously for the Hungarians. The punishment for
this crime was, for officers, either death or twelve
years forced service in the Austrian army as a
common soldier, and this latter fate was that which
befell the elder Konti and many others. No sooner
were these dreary years of forced exile ended than
he returned to his native country and went to live
at Steinamanger.

Here his son Isidore gained his early education,
but for his art education he had to go to Vienna,
for at that time there were no available schools in
Budapest. In Vienna he entered the Imperial
Academy of Art, where he came first under
Professor Kundmann, and later under Professor
Hellmer. He then spent some years in Italy, but
his inherited restlessness and desire for freedom
caused him to break away from the works of the

GROUP FOR MCKINLEY MONUMENT, PHILADELPHIA.
BY C A. LOPEZ AND ISIDORE KONTI

FOUNTAIN GROUP BY ISIDORE KONTI

schools and seek a new home in a land where he
would be free from restraint of all kinds. The
acknowledgment and recognition he has every-
where found in America have in a large measure
made up for the home he has sacrificed in his native
country. For Konti is a Hungarian to his heart's
core.

When Konti first left Europe in 1891 the days
of modernism had hardly begun and therefore his
early work in America was little influenced by it.
One of the first efforts was the execution of some
groups for the World's Columbian Exhibition.
The earnestness of purpose and the ability dis-
played in these efforts were at once recognised ;
his position from that time in the land of his

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