NEN Gallery

Fred (Fritz) Kormis, Adam and Eve, 1986
Bronze resin

Kormis was born in Frankfurt, Germany, 1897 and named Fritz (later adopting the nickname Fred). He was apprenticed to a sculpture workshop at the age of 14 but was drafted to fight in World War 1. He was wounded and captured in 1915 and imprisoned for five years in a Siberian war camp. Kormis eventually escaped from the camp and went home to Frankfurt, where he set up his own workshop and worked as a sculptor until 1933, when Hitler came to power and the Nazi race laws were passed. As a Jew, Kormis was banned from working, so in 1934 he moved first to Holland and then to England, where he later gained British nationality. In 1940 his studio suffered bomb damage and most of his work was lost.

As a result of his experiences in Siberia, many of Kormis’ works are memorials to prisoners of war and to the Holocaust. One of his pieces, “Memorial to Prisoners of War” and “Concentration Camp Victims”, has stood in Gladstone Park, Dollis Hill since 1971. Although later vandalised, it was repaired and restored to its original condition in 2004.

As well as public sculptures, Kormis made portrait medals, including one of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (now at the National Portrait Gallery NPG 5051), Winston Churchill (at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Lord Laurence Olivier, John Schlesinger and plaques of Henry Moore and Golda Meir. Kormis died in May, 1986, aged 91.

An Example of another work by Fritz Kormis in the Ben Uri collection

Prophet
Plaster
38.5 cm excluding wooden base

An example of work by Fritz Kormis in other collections
National Portrait Gallery
Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (King Edward VIII)
bronze medal, 1936
9.8 cm diameter
Given by Fred Kormis, 1975
An image of the work can be viewed at the National Portrait Gallery’s website:
http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/largerimage.php?LinkID=mp07196&rNo;=0&role;=art