KÁDÁR, BÉLA

Born. 14.06.1877 in Budapest
Died. 22.01.1956 in Budapest

Hungarian painter and illustrator, expressionist

About the artist

Béla Kádár was born on 14 June 1877 in Budapest. His father died when he was still at school and he had to leave the school to work in an iron factory. He started painting when he was young and began by painting murals in Budapest. In 1902 he enrolled and started his training at the  Academy of Fine Arts’ and 4 years later he exhibited at the Hungarian National Gallery which proved to be very popular. He left Hungary for the first time in 1910 to study in Paris and Berlin. On his return to Budapest he exhibited at the New House of Artists at the National Gallery in 1913 and was highly praised for his work. Kadar left his homeland permanently in 1918 and spent his time in Germany and France. In 1919, his works were exhibited in Vienna along with his good friend Hugo Scheiber.

In 1923 his first solo exhibition was held at Herwarth Walden’s gallery “Der Sturm,” he exhibited 57 oil paintings and a collection of pastels, drawings, and watercolours. Some of his work was also published in the periodical, ‘Der Sturm’.

The 1920s was a period of change for Kádár, he was influenced by all the new styles of the German expressionists and moved towards romanticism while also incorporating elements of Cubism, Futurism, Neo-Primitivism, Constructivism, and Metaphysical into his work. The works of the Der Blaue Reiter had a great influence on his work.
During the 1920s and early 1930s, he exhibited in Budapest, Berlin, Philadelphia, and twice at New York’s Brooklyn Museum. He went to New York in 1928 to attend the second exhibition.

Kádár returned to Hungary and was imprisoned in the Budapest forced ghetto in 1944, and his wife and sons became victims of the Holocaust.

He remained in Budapest and died on 22 January 1956. A Commemorative plaque for Béla Kádár, can be found in Budapest, District VIII, Bródy-Sándor Street 17.

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