Fred Kormis: Sculpting the Twentieth Century

The Wiener Holocaust Library’s latest exhibition surveys the life and career of Jewish émigré sculptor Fred Kormis.

It will reunite some of the most important of his diverse works, from the woodcut prints he produced in a Prisoner of War camp to the medallions he made of leading figures in British life, as well as some of his larger sculptural works, which include the first memorial in Britain to the victims of Nazi concentration camps.

Born in 1894 in Frankfurt into an Austrian and German Jewish family, sculptor and printmaker Fred (Fritz) Kormis’ life and career were shaped and disrupted by some of the most significant events of the twentieth century.

The exhibition attests to the versatility of Kormis’ practice as well as his ability to respond empathically to the human impact of the historical events, including the First World War and the Nazi era.