Statue of Gyula Jakoby

Gyula Jakoby (Košice, March 28, 1903 – Košice, April 15, 1985), a Hungarian painter born in Košice, is one of the most significant creators of Slovak painting, who is also referred to in art history as the 'Košice hermit'. In 1923, he studied at the Jenő Krón free school in Košice, and then between 1926 and 1928 at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, where his master was István Réti. However, after the second year, he returned to Košice, and from then on he lived and worked here until his death. From 1938 to 1944, he was a member of the Kazinczy Society, from 1945 to 1949, the Svojina, and then from 1944, the Czechoslovak Association of Fine Artists. His works can be found in all significant Slovak public collections, and in some Hungarian museums. ; The plaster version of György Bartusz's full-length, life-size bronze statue depicting the elderly master in a broken state was originally made during Jakoby's lifetime, in 1980. Two years later, it was cast in bronze and erected in the courtyard of the Museum of Eastern Slovakia in Košice (the museum was named after Gyula Jakoby in 1991, and his permanent exhibition was established there). This statue was then placed on Szathmáry György Street, close to the Cathedral of Saint Elizabeth, in 2000. ; The statue, which essentially stands on a base that only ensures static balance, literally blends into the bustle of passers-by on the pedestrian street, giving a sensitive meaning to the often rather utopian fusion of high art and the 'common'.