Moses Statue Presented to Krisztus Kiraly Catholic Church

 After 16 months of planning and preparation the Moses statue created by Nándor Wagner has been placed at Krisztus Király catholic church in Dunaujváros on the 16th of April.

Afternoon 15:00; the placement was completed

The name of Nándor Wagner is well-known in this city, which had the name Sztálinváros in the 1950-ies. His fountain composition Girl with Water Jar and Eight Frogs was the very first statue in that city, placed in 1954. The name of the city needs an explanation. This agricultural settlement was esteblished around the 10th century, and named Pentele after Saint Pantaleon. Due to the movement that Hungary should become the country of iron and steel during the socialist period the greenfield construction of a new industrial city started in 1949. The combined settlement was renamed Sztálinváros (Stalin City) in 1951. But after the Hungarian revolution of 1956 the new government gave the name Dunaújváros in 1961.

Girl with Water Jar and Eight Frogs

His wife Mrs. Chiyo Wagner paid several visit here. She was pleased to note that the fountain composition of her husband attracting so many young mother with children, that it was almost difficult to take a clean photo of it. The books written about Nándor were presented by her to the local József Attila library. 

The year 2019 brought the 150th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations with Japan and Mrs. Chiyo Wagner offered the Moses statue of her husband to commemorate the jubilee.

Nándor Baltási catholic parish priest has never heard about the Moses statue created by Nándor Wagner but he knew very well the Girl with Water Jar and Eight Frogs fountain's popularity. After a proper introduction by Tibor Bráda recognized painter and glass artist Nándor Baltási parish priest doubts arose that he could receive the statue as a gift. The church is a modern one constructed between 1993 and 2000, but they could not afford valuable art objects, so such a great gift finally was welcomed. Placing a statue of Moses is a sensitive matter, but it can be very effective in the right place, as in front of the main entrance. After having signed the contract between the Krisztus Király catholic church and Mrs. Chiyo Wagner it took 10 months to realize the placement. Please follow the placement in photos step by step  as below:

7:30; Pedestal arrived

9:18; Pedestal completed

Opening the wooden box at Dunagép Zrt. 

11:31; Statue of Moses was delivered to the main entrance of the church

Standing up Moses

Side view (photo: László Szundy)

15:00; Fixing the statue

Perfect placement! Working teams at the Moses statue

(photos: Sándor Kiss)

More (in Hungarian):

- Moses came from Japan to the Catholic church by DUOL news portal

- Pedestal adjustment DUOL photo galery

- Sculpture erection DUOL photo galery

Motherhood Project

Please be invited to unveiling ceremony of Motherhood statue 
Time: 11:00 on Friday, 5th of June, 2015
Place: Miskolc, Szigethy Mihály út 8.

Program (45 minutes):

• Welcome
• Opening speech by dr. Ákos Kriza Mayor of Miskolc
• Greeting speech by H.E. Junichi Kosuge Ambassador of Japan 
• “Motherhood” statue by Tibor Wehner art historian
• Short program presented by the students of the school including a 5 minute video about Nándor Wagner and his art showing love for mothers
• Presenting the statue to the school by Ms. Chiyo Wagner, founding President of Academia Humana Foundation, honorary President of Wagner Nándor Memorial Foundation in Japan 
• Unveiling ceremony 
• Thanks and appreciation by Ms. Antónia Orsolya Zsúdel director of the school 

Background. Several outstanding statues had been sculpted by Nándor Wagner in his Budapest atelier at Castle Bazar (Várbazár) between 1951 and 1956. According to documents held in the archive of the Advisory Office for Fine Arts, he was awarded a contract in winter 1955 to carve a limestone sculpture with the title Motherhood or Nursing Mother. The plaster model of the statue, which was to be erected in the garden of the Budapest-Albertfalva crèche, was ready by summer of 1956. The contract was signed with the artist on 14th September 1956 to implement the sculpture. Soon the Hungarian Revolution gave a short freedom to citizens of Hungary. Durning the twelve days of Revolution, Nándor Wagner was elected a member of the Revolutionary Committee of the Hungarian Association of Artists. When the Revolution had fallen and the wave of arrests had started Nándor Wagner had to flee from Hungary with his family. After a brief stay in Vienna they left for Sweden. History was to foil the implementation of similar plans, including statue Motherhood. However it was not clear for a good period of time what was the fate of the statue? 

This is the only photo we found.
Motherhood plaster model placed in the background with Attila József the poet.

Saving the statue. To Nándor Wagner’s luck, his semi finished works and finished ones from his atelier had been saved by his museum friends after he left Hungary and had been deposited in a storeroom of the King Saint Stephen Museum of Székesfehérvár which alas to say later suffered several flooding. For a long period it was believed that his saved art pieces went by the board, but in 2009 almost 50 items were found among them the plaster model of Motherhood.

At that time we have decided to save the statue by carving it into stone and presenting it to a healthcare educational institute. Székesfehérvár commemorated Saint Stephen the first Hungarian king in the year 2013. On this occasion chamber exhibition titled "Wagner statue-artifact in Székesfehérvár" at King Saint Stephen Museum has been organized to show a bit of history related to art and activity for the city by Nándor Wagner. The exhibition was a great success. A visitor informed us that she knew the lost statue which had been placed silently, with no publicity at all on the premises of Albertfalva kindergarten, which is now the Down syndrome day-boarding facility, a closed institute. We have inspected that statue, and as its condition has been deteriorated much over 50+ years we made a decision to go ahead with the project in 2014.

Presentation of the statue
Ferenczi Sándor Healthcare Vocational School in Miskolc was selected from the nominated ones to be presented by Nándor Wagner’s work the nursing mother. School has no large artwork at her premises.

Ferenczi Sándor Healthcare Vocational School

It was established in 1957 and since then had been developed continuously. Their curriculum includes all clinics and hospital nursing. Quite a few reforms were implemented in 1975, 1977 and 1990 respectively. The school was participating at several competitions and tenders and won support from PHARE, EU educational health funds and Hungarian government funds as well. They joined Leonardo da Vinci program collaborating and exchanging experimental and mobility knowledge with 6-8 EU countries since 1997. The school was growing and by integration had to operate a second teaching unit. They won the bronze medal of the For Outstanding Quality Public Education movement in 2002. After five year period being in unsatisfactory school conditions the new building was opened in February 2007. The new school building complex was designed by Csaba Bodonyi DLA an internationally renowned architect. Now they are following HEFOP-3.1.2. the Competence Based Education, a Hungarian government organized operative development programme. The school is the largest of its kind in the Eastern Hungarian region and has one thousand students. We do hope they will like the statue Motherhood.

Hungarian Heritage Prize goes to Nándor Wagner

We have received a letter, which reads as follows:
 
"It is my pleasure to inform you that our Appraising Committee of Hungarian Heritage and Europe Society based on initiatives made by civilians has decided to grant

HUNGARIAN HERITAGE PRIZE
to
WAGNER NÁNDOR
sculptor
The Presentation Ceremony will be held at the Grand Assembly Hall of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on Saturday 21st of September, 2013.

Dr. Hámori József
President"



The moments of the Ceremony

 Ms. Chiyo Wagner, Mr. Mihály Pál sculptor and Ms. Réka Gabriella Kiss interpreter.

 Just a little chat with Mr. Sándor Kiss before the opening ceremony.

 The ceiling of the Grand Assembly Hall

 Appreciation speech by Mr. Mihály Pál sculptor who knew and visited
Nándor Wagner and his atelier in the 1950-ies

 Appreciation speech was supported by slide show. (watch it here, in Hungarian)

 The Hungarian Heritage Prize was presented by Dr. Annamária Zelényi Vice President

 Round of applause.

 Certificate of Merit reads:
"For his Statuary Integrating Cultures
Nándor Wagner sculptor
was honoured by
Hungarian Heritage Prize"

For sake of Memory

 Moments of happiness.

 Congratulation!
Ms. Chiyo Wagner and Professor József Hámori

Summer Painters' Camp in Révfülöp

Herend Painters Group has been supported by our Foundation since long. The master teacher and leader of the group is Tibor Kádár, a well known painter and retired art school director. This weekend the group visited picturesque Révfülöp located on at Balaton. The history of the small village goes back to the Roman times. We could meet them during their workshop activity and enjoyed the exhibition of the works created on the spot. On the photo Mrs. Chiyo Wagner and Mr. Tibor Kádár are discussing art issues.

 Painter Tibor Kádár's homepage

Mother Earth is ready

Our founder Chiyo Wagner arrived to Hungary. Her first visit was paid to Reneszánsz Stonemason Ltd. where the Mother Earth has been cut by István Darányi stone sculptor. The granite statue has been presented to I. district of Budapest and will be hopefully unveiled on 7th of October, commemorating the 90th birthday of sculptor Nándor Wagner.

Mother Earth for Sapporo

18th of November - Sapporo

The statue titled Mother Earth - Boshizo-Furusato in Japanese was unveiled in the Maruyama Park in Sapporo. The unveiling ceremony was attended by a large crowd among them the leaders of the city and the school friends of Chiyo Wagner who helped to collect the funds to form the park and place the statue. The globular statue showing the mother with her baby in lovely embracing moment is in the center of a community space. The season's first snowfall arrived with 40 cm snow just the night before the ceremony. On this occassion Chiyo Wagner was decorated for her outstanding service.

 Photoalbum of the Ceremony 

Nándor Wagner Program - the 10th Anniversary

A commemorative evening for the tenth anniversary of unveiling of the Garden of Philosophy on Gellért Hill was held at Petőfi Literature Museum.
Program: opening speech by H.E. Tetsuo Ito Ambassador of Japan; Tibor Wehner art historian talks about the recent results of Wagner researches; Sándor Kiss recalls the events at Garden of Philosophy. Videos about Nándor Wagner and the film of János Gulyás Corpus Hungaricum will be shown. Closing words was told by Wagner Chiyo. (We had 120+ participants)

 Garden of Philosophy the first 10 years (large ppt file)

Remembering at the József Attila Statue

The 3 member delegation from Japan visited Nándor Wagner's hometown Nagyvárad(Oradea), Romania today. A memorial event was held at his statue József Attila the poet. The event was attended by Vice Mayor Rozália Bíró and in her speech she emphesized the valuable contribution of the sculptor to the humankind. On the photo the Vice Mayor and Chiyo Wagner are posing after the wrenches of memory were placed. Lecture evening was organized about the life and works of Nándor Wagner and the Great Tohoku Earthquake.

Vice Mayor Rozália Bíró and Chiyo Wagner

6th Nándor Wagner Prize

This year's theme for competition theme was Castle of Nagyvárad (Oradea). At the sixth competition of the Partium Christian University for Wagner Nándor Prize the students of graphic art the winners are: 1. József Balázs, 2. Klaudia Kovács, 3. divided Nóra Lázár and Catalina Mos. Special recognition went to Noémi Fazekas.
The prizes were presented to the winners by Chiyo Wagner.

 The article of Reggeli Újság (Hungarian)

Nándor Wagner Evening

Our Foundation has organized an evening program at the Petőfi Literature Museum.
Mr. Sandor Kiss president of the Foundation welcomed the participants and talked about the recent activities of our Foundation. The NHK video feature story of Mrs. Chiyo Wagner was shown. Mr. Tibor Wehner art historian talked about the recently discovered grave statue in Budapest. A documentary film made by Mr. János Gulyás titled  Nándor Wagner's Swedish period about his standing statues there was shown.

Nándor Wagner in his atelier in Lund

Nándor Wagner Evening in Tokyo

One has passed since the Garden of Philosophy was unveiled in Nakano-ku, Tokyo. To commerorate the first year of the group of statues a special event was organized in the auditorium of Sun Plaza, Nakano-ku. Program: Greetings Mayor Daisuke Tanaka; Lecture about the art values of the compoisition by Matsumoto art historian, the Nándor Wagner video of NHK was shown. The lecture about the the Gardens of Philosphy in Budapest and Tokyo by Sándor Kiss was read. Closing and thanking words were told by Chiyo Wagner, widow of the sculptor.

Gardens of Philosophy Symposium

Our Foundation organized a crowd attending Symposium about the reception of the Garden of Philosophy both in Budapest and Tokyo in the Petőfi Literature Museum in Budapest. Speakers:
Chiyo Wagner founder, Tibor Wehner art historian, Sándor Kiss president. The video documentary of the group of statues made by János Gulyás was shown.

Shooting in Sweden

The team of NHK Educational is in Sweden trying to follow Nándor Wagner's art in Lund, Eslöv and Oskarshamn. Ms.Chiyo Wagner accompanied the team and she is recalling the interesting moments of their life. During the trip a small stainless statue was shown to them at Oskarshamn Forum, which has the real size statue in front of their building.

The sketch of Clown

Clown