The English portion of the sign reads:
"Arthur Fleischmann
1896 - 1990
IN THIS HOUSE LIVED THE FAMILY
OF THE SCULPTOR ARTHUR FLEISCHMANN.
AFTER HE HAD LEFT BRATISLAVA
HE PERFORMED IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES.
HE SPENT THE LAST 40 YEARS IN LONDON.
THE SCULPTOR WAS A PIONEER
IN WORK WITH SYNTHETIC MATERIALS,
PARTICULARLY PERSPEX.
NOWADAYS IN THIS HOUSE THERE
IS THE ARTHUR FLEISCHMANN MUSEUM."
Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"Arthur Fleischmann (born 1896, Bratislava; d. 2 March 1990, Tenerife) was a Slovak-born, London-based sculptor, who pioneered the use of Perspex in sculpture. He spent time in Bali, and in Australia, where he was at the centre of the Merioola Group, before settling in London...
London years
In 1948, Fleischmann returned to Europe and settled in London. He married his wife Joy in 1959 and their son, the photographer Dominique Fleischmann, was born in 1961.
Fleischmann produced sculptures of personalities of the day, including Lord Robens, the opera singer Kathleen Ferrier, the actress Joan Collins, and the ballerina Svetlana Beriosova. His bust of Trevor Howard is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
Fleishmann pioneered the use of Perspex in sculpture, including some notable public pieces. In 1956, the Pacific Steam Navigation Company (PSNC) commissioned The Birth of Aphrodite for their ship Reina del Mar. Fleischmann carved the piece from a half-ton block of clear Perspex built up from laminated sheets. For the 1970 World Expo in Osaka, Japan, he created a perspex fountain for the British Pavilion, entitled Harmony and progress. In 1963, he featured in a British Pathe newsreel about Perspex sculpture.
In 1977 his Crystal Crown, carved out of a massive block of acrylic, was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II at St Katharine Docks in London, in celebration of her Silver Jubilee. The acrylic block had originally been commissioned by Stanley Kubrick as the alien monolith in the film "2001 - A Space Odyssey", but Kubrick rejected it in favour of a piece made from black basalt.
Fleischmann’s work was influenced by his Roman Catholic faith; he is the only artist to have sculpted four Popes from life. His Tryptych of the Holy Rosary (1958) was commissioned for the Lady Chapel at Westminster Cathedral. It consists of three clear Perspex panels carved in relief. His bronze of Pope John Paul II was unveiled at the Venerable English College in Rome by the Pope on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the college in 1979.
Other later portrait subjects include Sir Charles Mackerras, the ballerina Doreen Wells, and the actor Barry Humphries. His last work was a Perspex water sculpture, Tribute to the Discovery of DNA; like his early "Bronze Doors", it is installed at the New South Wales State Library.
Fleischmann died on 2 March 1990 at the age of 93, while on holiday in Tenerife."