Isidore Konti (July 9, 1862 – January 11, 1938) was a Vienna-born (of Hungarian parents) sculptor. He began formal art studies at the age of 16 when he entered the Imperial Academy in Vienna, where he studied under Edmund von Hellmer.[1] In 1886, he won a scholarship that allowed him to study in Rome for two years. While there he developed a love of Renaissance art that was to affect the nature of his mature sculpture. Upon returning to Austria, Konti worked as an architectural modeler.
In 1890, 1891 or 1892 (depending on the source) Konti moved, permanently as it turned out, to America, there going straight to Chicago, where he began working on sculptural decorations for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.[1][2][3] When the work there was completed, he moved to New York City and commenced working as an assistant for fellow Austrian expatriate Karl Bitter.[3] Konti's skills as a modeler kept him in much demand—for the 1900 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York;[4] for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis; and for the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.[1] In 1906 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1909.
Konti died in Yonkers, New York on January 11, 1938.
- ^ a b c Collecting Sculpture. Fall 2001. New York: John Graham & Sons, Inc., 2001. 17.
- ^ Duncan, Alice Levi. Paul Manship and His Circle. New York: Gerald Peters Gallery, Inc., 2006. 7.
- ^ a b Grubb, Nancy, and Carol A. McKeown. Paul Manship. New York: Cross River Press, Ltd., 1989. 22.
- ^ "Art Hand-Book: Official Handbook of Architecture and Sculpture and Art Catalogue to the Pan-American Exposition" (PDF). p. 24,25.