Dezső Győri

Dezső Győri studied decorative sculpture first at the “Middle School” and then, from 1930 to 1935, at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts. In 1935/36 he stayed in Roma on scholarship. From1930 he exhibited at home and abroad. In 1941 Győri won a public sculpture competition in Budapest. After World War II he participated in the restoration of destroyed monuments. In 1972 he was awarded the Mihály Munkácsy Prize. Győri also created portraits and sports statues for the area surrounding the Nép Stadium.

The Tornászlányok (Gymnasts) group of three figures belonged to a whole alley of sculptures located along the driveway to the stadium in the 1950s. A picture of the plaster model of at least one of the three female gymnasts survived. Whether a single figure or the entire group was exhibited in Helsinki is unknown. The group at the Népstadion was made of treated aluminum and has suffered at times from weathering and vandalism. Another bronze statue of the middle gymnast was erected in Balatonboglár at Lake Balaton in 1979.