Katerína Beňová
VIktor Tilgner and his generous contribution to the exhibition at the Hummel Memorial in Bratislava
Leading Viennese sculptor Viktor Tilgner (1844-1896) was born in Pressburg (now Bratislava). This fact was decisive in the context of the artist's rediscovery of his relationship with his birth-place, aided by his participation in an exhibition organized in 1883. The intention was to build a monument for another native son of Pressburg, the composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Within the Austro-Hungarian empire, Pressburg was building up its status as a city with strong local pat-riotism, which also chose local figures for its public spaces, beyond the national discourse taking place in the Hungarian lands after 1867. For example, just as František Rákoczi II came to be an important political symbol for Košice, so Pressburg selected individuals associated with its exten-sive local history and artistic life for its public spaces. In this context, the theme of individualism is closely associated with the specific personality of the artist and his artistic strategy for represent-ing and establishing himself. In Tilgner's case, his position on the Vienna scene primarily revolved around portrait sculpture at the time he was presenting himself in Pressburg at Hummel's exhibi-tion. This presentation of his sculptures (the Hummel monument and the Ganymede fountain) in public space, which started successfully in Pressburg, also aided his promotion in Vienna, where, for example, the Mozart monument finally saw the light of day. Tilgner's path to the "self" in-volved a personal gesture, a generous gift of a collection of sixteen sculptures, which were pre-sented to the collection of what was at that time a young institution, the Municipal Museum (now the Bratislava City Museum). At the same time, he created his famous monument in Pressburg, in a newly found relationship with his birthplace.
Keywords: Viktor Tilgner – sculpture – Johann Nepomuk Hummel – Bratislava (Pressburg) – exhibition – Bratislava (Pressburg) City Museum
design by Bedřich Vémola
