Grave of Graphic Artist Ármin Tardos-Taussig

The Jewish cemetery of Szeged is the final resting place of numerous outstanding artists of Szeged, including graphic artist Ármin Tardos-Taussig. The inscription is situated on the eastern side of his gravestone made of red limestone. The letters, which are delicately and artistically shaped, protrude from the engraved surface of his memorial. Although his wife’s name is also on the gravestone, she was not buried here. Ármin Tardos-Taussig (1874 – 1936), graphic designer was born in 1874 in Timisoara. He received a degree in engineering at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics then he studied the art of copper engraving under Alfred Wesemann’s supervision in Vienna. After finishing his studies, he started working at the Szeged Department of State Railways as an engineer, but he was forced into early retirement due to his left-wing political attitude that he showed during the era of the Soviet Republic. His most significant works can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts and the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest, and in the Móra Ferenc Museum in Szeged. Among these collections, copper carvings, pencil drawings, building plans, lino-cuts bear witness to his talent. He made the plans for the ancient Hebrew carvings and stylized flower ornaments of the New Synagogue; furthermore, created the memorial tablets of the Old Synagogue commemorating the Jews of Szeged who fell in WWI. Supposedly, the ornaments of the tenement house of the Reformed Church (at 2 Kálvin Square), with its colourful mosaics can also be attributed to him. He further designed 24 tombs, which he himself introduced in a book, published in 1932, with whole-page illustrations; Chief Rabbi Immánuel Löw wrote the foreword to his book. Among the tombs was the tragically-deceased painter Ödön Heller’s that is also found in the Jewish cemetery of Szeged.