LIGETI, Miklós
(1871, Pest - 1944, Budapest)

Anonymous

1903
Bronze, height: 190 cm
City Park, Budapest

Most of the statues and memorials in Hungary were erected at the turn of the century. It was a period of feverish work in the field of sculpture, and not only were ambitious memorials made claiming the attention of the whole nation, but also smaller more modest monuments. Such is the statue of "Anonymous" by Miklós Ligeti, erected in City Park in 1903. (The smaller version in the Hungarian National Gallery is a sketch for the full-sized work.)

In creating it, Ligeti undertook a difficult task - he had to make a monument to a man nobody knew anything about, beyond his writings. Nothing is known of the appearance of King Béla's chronicler, and at that time even his name remained a mystery. The artist devised a cunning solution by obscuring his face with the cowl of the monk's robe. He sits on a wide stone bench in a meditative posture, in his right hand is his pencil, in the left an open codex. In this way Ligeti expresses all we know about Anonymous: the nameless chronicler who has become a legend in Hungary, was an active, creative man, one of the first Hungarian literary figures and historians. Through this statue, Anonymous has gained a physical apperance, that of a contemplative man.


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