Ursula Ruth Blackwell, Mrs Ernő Goldfinger
Lajos Barta (Budapest 1899 - Cologne 1986)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1962 (signed and dated)
Materials
Bronze
Measurements
478 x 244 x 266 mm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
2 Willow Road, London
NT 112593
Summary
A bronze portrait bust of Ursula Ruth Blackwell, Mrs Ernö Goldfinger (1909-1991) by Lajos Barta (1899-1986). The sitter is depicted facing forward. Signed and dated 1962. Mounted on a rectangular block of pine wood.
Full description
Lajos Barta was one of Hungary’s leading abstract sculptors in the post-war period, who struggled for long periods to work within the constraints of the Communist regime’s often ambivalent policies towards abstraction. In 1965 he left Hungary for good, living for the remainder of his life in Paris and in Cologne. The portrait bust of Ursula Goldfinger was made in the course of a study trip abroad, which Lajos Barta was permitted by the Hungarian authorities to undertake during the second half of 1962. After spending time in Basel and Paris, Barta arrived in England, first visiting Bradford. He made the portrait bust of Ursula Goldfinger in October 1962, when he was living in London. There are three pencil drawings for the bust in the archive at 2 Willow Road. The sculptor in his later years only accepted portrait commissions when he was short of money; Ernö Goldfinger probably gave this commission as a kindness to his fellow Hungarian, for whom life in the West would certainly have been proving expensive. When interviewed towards the end of his life, the sculptor could only recall that the sitter had been the English wife of a Hungarian architect. Barta’s original model was made in kaolin clay. Jeremy Warren, 2018
Provenance
Owned by Ernö Goldfinger and Ursula Ruth Blackwell, also known as Mrs Ernö Goldfinger. Purchased by the National Trust in 1994.
Credit line
National Trust Collections (2 Willow Road, The Ernő Goldfinger Collection)
Marks and inscriptions
On edge of bust section, proper left side towards back: 1962 LAJOS/BARTA
Makers and roles
Lajos Barta (Budapest 1899 - Cologne 1986), sculptor
References
Winkler 1995: Ulrich Winkler, Lajos Barta (1899-1986). Das plastische Gesamtwerk. Zwischen Konstruktivismus und organoider Konkretion, Plön 1995, P. 281, no. 286.