Karl Matzek

Karl George Matzek (1890–1983) was an Austrian religious artist of Czech descent who is best noted for his panoramas and murals of Biblical scenes in church buildings.

Matzek was a graduate of the Berlin Academy of Art. He fought in the Austrian-Hungarian cavalry in World War I, and was after the October Revolution imprisoned in Siberia. He succeeded to escape and in the following years, he traversed the whole continent by foot. This part of his life has not been adequately clarified. On a winter day after World War II, he was found sick and half-freezed by villagers of Balatun in Bosnia and accepted in their midst in exchange for painting frescos in their churches. Until his recovery, Matzek was placed in the most honorable home in the community, of a young widow with three children, the mother of the sculptor Slobodan Pejić. For almost ten years, Matzek educated the boy, and married his mother. He was the only father the boy knew. They were inseparable and painted frescos together. The boy painted lower parts and Matzek painted upper parts.

In Harkanovci there is the parish church of Our Lady, built in 1799, restored and expanded in 1938. The entire interior was painted with frescoes and stained glass embedded in the windows. The frescoes were painted by Karl Matzek in period since 1955 until 1957. Matzek was sentenced to death by communist authorities, but was saved by influence of the parish priest don Mirko Gazivode. In a return he painted two murals in the church. Parishioners liked it and ordered all other frescoes in the church.

Matzek migrated to Perth, Western Australia, in 1958. He painted the Stations of the Cross, a series of 14 pictures, in the "Como Catholic Church" in Western Australia. Matzek later moved to Canberra, where there was a sizeable Serbian political immigrant population who first arrived in 1949, following World War II. The Serbs built St George Serbian Orthodox Church in 1966, after the Government granted them a block of land at National Circuit, Forrest, close to Parliament House. In the following year, Matzek, then 77, was commissioned to decorate the interior of the church, and for the next 16 years until his death in 1983, he devoted himself to painting the side walls, ceiling and altar screen, depicting episodes in Serbian history as well as Biblical scenes. Even though the Church itself is architecturally small in size, Matzek’s two 20-metre-long panoramas and murals have attracted visitors daily from all parts of Australia and overseas. Since he moved to Australia until his death, Matzek remained only in written contact with his family in Bosnia. He sent art books and art journals to Pejić, and supported his family financially as much as possible.

He converted to the Orthodox faith as "George" during his work with the Church. Following a brief illness, Matzek died on April 16, 1983, and was buried at the St. Sava Monastery Cemetery.

External links

• http://www.vid.hr/images-dogadjaji/2010/6/harkanovci/zgsh.html