Nicolaus Koni; Sculpted Famous Subjects

Nicolaus Koni, 89, a sculptor whose subjects included contralto Marian Anderson and Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion. Koni was born in Transylvania when it was a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. After graduating from Vienna’s Academy of Fine Arts, he continued his studies in Paris and Florence, Italy. In 1937, at the age of 24, he won an international competition to create a bust of Marshal Josef Pilsudski, two years after the death of the founder of the modern Polish state. But the work was not installed because of World War II and the subsequent Communist takeover. After the fall of communism, Koni donated the 28-inch-high bust to the Polish government. It now stands in the Department of Defense in Warsaw. Koni came to the United States in 1941 and served in the Army Medical Corps during World War II. He continued his art career after Army service, creating a bust of Anderson that is now at Lincoln Center in New York. His bust of Ben-Gurion is at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, Israel. On Tuesday in Riviera Beach, Fla.