KORMIS, FRED

KORMIS, FRED (1897–1986), sculptor. Kormis was born in Frankfurt on the Main, served in the Austrian army during World War I, and was a prisoner-of-war in Siberia from 1915 to 1920. He lived in Germany until 1933 and then moved to Paris before settling in England in 1934. He studied sculpture in Germany and exhibited in Europe before his regular exhibitions in London, including a group of his medals acquired by the British Museum. His public commissions include works for various local authorities in Britain. In later years he created a large group dedicated "To Those who Died in Captivity," at Gladstone Park, London, in memory of "Prisoners of War and Victims of Concentration Camps 1914–1945." It includes five large bronze figures, of which a number of maquettes are in the Imperial War Museum, London. (Charles Samuel Spencer)