About

Biography

Joseph Petrovics was born in Jaszfenyszaru, Hungary. He was artistically inspired from a young age by nature and its materials, spending his youth playing in the woods and interacting with the natural clay of the riverbanks. His artistic education began in high school and continued through undergraduate and graduate terms with the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, a prestigious fine arts establishment in Hungary that accepted as few as three sculptors per-year. In his undergraduate years, he learned a variety of technical skills and worked with many sculptural materials, and was commissioned for such projects as his 1980 life-size bronze sculpture of Jozsef Bem, a general in the 1848 Hungarian Revolution.

His graduation from the Academy of Fine Arts in 1984 qualified Joseph as a teacher of drawing, geometry, and art history for secondary school. In that same year, he began his studies in the Masters Program at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. Joseph won the Lipot Herman Award for his artistic achievements and was elected as a member of the Art Fund of the Hungarian Republic and Studio of Young Artists of the Hungarian Republic. As he continued to develop his personal style, working with marble and stone carving, metal fabrication, welding, bronze casting, finishing, and patina, he established his own studio and completed several commissions for public monuments. He received his Masters Degree in Sculpting (MFA) in 1986, and won the Derkovitz Prize in 1987 in the National Competition for Young Artists.

In 1987, Joseph, his wife Judit, and their two daughters, Edith and Vera, visited relatives in Princeton, New Jersey, and in 1988, moved to the United States. Here, Joseph was sponsored by Alex Ettl and Sculpture House Casting Company, based in New York City. As the sculptor-in-residence of the Ettl Farm in Princeton, Joseph worked on multiple monument-sized sculptures, and was particularly inspired by the seemingly endless columns of the skyscrapers of New York, viewed on his frequent commutes into the city from New Jersey.

From 2003 to 2006, as the lead sculptor of the team, Joseph worked on the official 9/11 Firefighters Memorial Wall at Ground Zero, New York City. This base-relief is 6-feet in height and measures approximately 56-feet long and is “Dedicated to those who fell and those who carry on.” Joseph sculpted the Memorial Wall from the clay model through to the full-scale bronze chasing-finishing of the monument, which was unveiled for permanent placement in 2006 in honor the Fire Department of New York.

Joseph continues his work as a sculptor at his home in Princeton, New Jersey. He is associated with the Newington-Cropsey Foundation & Academy of Art in Hastings-On-Hudson, New York as a studio instructor for emerging younger artists and graduate students of sculpting.

Resume

Education

1984-86 MFA specialized in sculpture Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest
1980-84 Major in sculpture Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest teacher of Drawing, Geometry & Art history
1976-79 Study of sculpting Evening preparatory courses, Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest
1972-76 Diploma in “Decorative sculpture” Fine and Applied Arts high school, Budapest, Hungary

 

Awards and Honors

1991 Artists in the Marketplace” Bronx Museum of Arts, New York, NY
1987 Derkovits prize Budapest, Hungary
1984 Lipot hermann Award Budapest, Hungary
1976 Endre Domanovszky Award Budapest, Hungary

 

Professional Experience

1993- Present Studio Instructor & Assistant to the Director Newington Cropsey Foundation
Academy of Art, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
1983 Student Teacher in Geometry, Drawing & Art History Fine and Applied Arts High School, Budapest, Hungary
1983 Director and Teacher Summer Art Workshop for Upper Grade Students, Bertalan Szekely Museum, Szada, Hungary

 

Exhibitions

2005-06 “Balanced Dialogue: 10th Anniversary of the Hungarian Sculptors Society”
Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ
2004 Solo Exhibition, Witherspoon Gallery, Princeton NJ
2003 “Homage to the Skyscrapers” Museum of the American Hungarian Foundation
New Brunswick, NJ
2000 Joint Exhibition with Real Tougas, University of Maryland, Art Gallery College Park, MD
1999 Solo Exhibition, Consulate of Hungary, New York, NY
1998 Solo Exhibition, Bush Campus Center Art Gallery, Rutgers University
The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ
1997 Quietude Gallery Annual Group Show, East Brunswick, NJ
1996 Hungarian-American Contemporary Artists, Consulate of Hungary, New York, NY
1996 Magyarorszag 1100 eves, Millecentury of Hungarian Exhibition
Godollo Gallery, Godollo Hungary
1996 “Tamas Vigh and His Circle” An Exhibition Tribute to Tamas Vigh by his former students at
The Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest Hungary, Vigado Gallery, Budapest
1995 International Woodcarving Symposium and Exhibition, Nagyatad, Hungary
1994 Hungarian-American Heritage Center, New Brunswick, NJ
1993 Consulate of Hungary, New York, NY
1992 Solo Exhibition, Ettl Gallery, Princeton, NJ
1991 “Artists in the Marketplace” The Bronx Museum of Art, New York, NY
1988 Solo Exhibition, Godollo Gallery, Godollo, Hungary

 

Selected Public Art Commissions

2004-06 Fire Department of New York City, 9-11 Memorial Wall, 56’ x 6’ Bronze Relief
FDNY 10 House, Liberty Street at Ground Zero, NYC
2000 Bronze Relief, 6’ Diameter
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
1997-98 Two Life-Size Bronze Figures Monument
Ulysses Historical Society, Trumansburg, NY
1996 Bronze Bust of the Founder, Ahrens National Recreation and Park Association Institute, Ashburn, VA
1996 Functional Sculpture Gate, Welded Steel, 24’ x 6’
Quietude Sculpture Garden, East Brunswick, NJ
1992-93 Iwo Jima Memorial Monument, Bronze on Granite base, Height: 37’
Iwo Jima Survivors Association of Connecticut, New Britain, Newington, CT
1989 “Theatre de La Mode” Welded Wire Mannequins Window Installation
Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
1988 Dr. Edward Teller Memorial Plaque
Livermore, CA
1987 Queen Elizabeth of Austro-Hungary Memorial Plaque
Godollo Historical Museum, Hungary
1983 “Pro Urbe” Plaque for the town of Godollo, Hungary
1983 “Panacea” Life Size Figure, International Trade Fair
Leipzig, East Germany
1980 Bem Jozsef Monument, Memorial of the 1848-49 Hungarian Revolution
Kiskunfelegyhaza, Hungary