Márton Izsák

Márton Izsák (István) English: Martin Isaac was a prolific Transylvanian Jewish sculptor of Hungarian descent, noted personality and recipient of the honorary citizenship award from the city of Târgu Mureș.

Izsák sculpting in Târgu Mureș

The son of Jakab Izsák (a government official, professional soldier and eventual store owner), by arranged marriage to Vilma Friedmann, Márton was born in Gălăuțaș, now in Harghita County. After his family home in Gheorgheni burned down in World War I, his family spent some years in Petelea, before eventually settling down in Târgu Mureș.[1][2][3]

After moving to the city, he spent some time apprenticing in furniture making under an artist named Géza Rózsa,[1] who noted Márton's artistic talent. At the artist's behest, Márton's father enrolled him in an arts program, and he spent the next 3 years learning how to carve at the Industrial High School in Târgu Mureș, but before finishing he was invited by Rózsa to complete highschool, and then continue to an arts degree, at the College of Applied Arts in Budapest, graduating (notably early for his age) in 1933. While at the college, he studied under notable sculptors Imre Simay and Lajos Mátrai.

In the late 1930s he returned home to Târgu Mureș, where he gained recognition and eventually presented his works in personal exhibitions in 1936 and in 1937. He remained there until his deportation at the beginning of World War II, despite his fathers' World War I medals, which should have afforded some protection.[3]

In 1940, as a result of the Second Vienna Award, Northern Transylvania (including Târgu Mureș) was annexed by Hungary. During the war, Izsák lost 25 relatives, including his mother,[3] in the Nazi death camps of the Holocaust. After Romanian and Soviet troops regained control of the region in Fall 1944, he returned to the city from labor camp. He worked as an instructor and eventually art director at the acclaimed Art High School in Târgu Mureș, 1945 to 1974.[2][4]

During his time at the art school, he produced many notable works, including several collaborations with István Csorvássy. His Monument to the Deportees, erected in Dej in front of the local Orthodox synagogue is one of the earliest Holocaust memorials to be erected in Europe,[3] and memorializes c. 7,000 Jews relocated to the nearby Dej ghetto and eventually deported and killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau.[5] Many of his other works still are on display in several cities, but primarily in Târgu Mureș – including the notable "Two Bolyai" in Bolyai Square in Târgu Mureș.[2]

The mysterious overnight removal, in 1962[6][7] of his statue of Stalin, erected just five years earlier in 1957, is remembered as signifying the metaphorical end of a Soviet Union domination of Romania during De-Stalinization in Romania.[8]

In 2003, a public Holocaust memorial was erected in Târgu Mureș, based on a cast and plans originally produced for Dej in 1947.[3][9] Shortly before his death, he was ordained as Cetățean de onoare (Honorary Citizen, an order recognizing civic contribution) for the city.[10]