Bidspirit auction | Gabriella Polony Mountain (Austria /

Gabriella Polony Mountain (Austria / Kansas City, 1918-2020) - GABRIELLA POLONY MOUNTAIN (1918-2020) MIXED MEDIA. Gabriella Polony Mountain (Austria / Kansas City, 1918-2020) Untitled (Figures in Motion) Late 20th Century The working study for a tapestry panel executed on heavy brown paper is direct from the artist's estate and accompanied by a statement of authenticity and provenance. Well into her fourth decade as an artist, Gabriella Polony Mountain began exploring the medium of tapestry for the first time. This dynamic and colorful composition served as a design study for one of the many weavings she produced in addition to creating paintings, mosaics, sculpture and repousee. Born in Bratislava, Slovakia in 1918, Gabriella Polony Mountain began drawing seriously at age twelve. With uncertain times in Pre-WWII Europe, a situation that ultimately resulted in the loss of close family members to the Holocaust, her father sent her to England. After studies in England, Budapest, and Rome, she immigrated to Kansas City in 1951. Her talent was soon recognized nationally with a Huntington Hartford Fellowship, a nationally competitive award recognizing exceptional artistic promise; followed by a Louis Comfort Tiffany Fellowship in 1955. By the early 1960s she was completing major installations in some of Kansas City's finest homes. In 1962 she was recognized with an award from the Art in Architecture program sponsored by the Kansas City chapter of the American Institute of Architects (A.I.A.) for a major installation of copper repousse, the metal-working technique she perfected at Academia dei Belli Arti in Rome. October 26 of that same year saw the dedication of her 220 square foot mosaic mural in the lobby of the Mercantile Bank and Trust Company at 1119 Walnut Street in Kansas City. It was made using 160,000 pieces of polished wood, marble tesserae, Byzantine glass, stone and metal, and weighed 3000 pounds. In the decades that followed, 'Gabby' finished dozens of commissions throughout the Midwest and completed studio work spanning painting, sculpture, mosaics, stained glass, repousse, and weaving. She was once quoted in The Freedom of Home, a feature that ran in newspapers all around the U.S., as follows: Mrs. Gabriella Polony Mountain, who fled her native Hungary to become a sculptress of national reputation in her new country : 'Home, like everything else, does not attain full meaning until we have lost it. I have lost my home and my country, but I have found them again in America. I tell you from my heart that the freedom to choose one's home, to make it a haven for one's family and friends, and to defend it against all oppression, is one of America's greatest blessings.' Gabriella continued to make art - and drive her red Corvette - well into her 90s, passing in 2020 at the age of 102. Despite this remarkable legacy, the two works on paper offered in this sale apparently mark her first appearance ever at auction. Sheet measures 60.5 x 40.25 inches. Without proof of exemption, be aware that internet sales tax applies to all Internet transactions and local sales tax may apply to local pick-up transactions. We happily provide seamless in-house packing and shipping services on nearly everything we sell. Until further notice, we cannot offer international shipping in-house. Dimensions Sheet measures 60.5 x 40.25 inches. Condition Good condition, noting some very mild storage creases and spots of toning. Provenance The estate of Gabriella Polony Mountain.