The images and information presented below are for the instruction of students and scholarly research.
Bela Kadar
(1877-1956)
Girl With Guitar, 1935
Bela Kadar was an Expressionist artist, born in Hungary who created powerful images based on Hungarian culture and legends. Prior to World War II, Kadar created bright and whimsical paintings in gouache, oil and watercolor depicting Eastern European life and heritage. Cheerful landscapes and images of Magyar (Hungarian) culture and peasant fables are sprinkled throughout his oeuvre. Though his artwork is Expressionist by nature, Kadar experimented with and employed a number of techniques from Futurism to Cubism as well as Constructivism and Neo-Primitivism. Kadar managed to mold and merge these techniques into a playful style of his own.
Mystical Landscape
Two Girls
Women and Horses in the Country
Woman with Child, 1930
Kadar’s height of popularity as an artist was in the 1920s and 30s. During this time, he exhibited around the world in New York, Philadelphia, Berlin and of course, Budapest.
Woman with Cat, 1930
Still Life, 1930
Four Women
Almost a victim of the Holocaust, Kadar spent a year in the Budapest ghetto (1944-45) where he managed to render almost 50 drawings about the pain and suffering he endured.
Man and Woman at Window
Untitled sketch
During his lifetime, Kadar was a highly prolific artist and created a number of sketches and paintings. It is likely that during the end of World War II, a number of Kadar’s works may have been stolen or otherwise destroyed during occupation. Today his paintings are housed world wide and perhaps in your own home. Still wondering about a Hungarian folk painting hanging in your home? It could be by Bela Kadar…contact us to find out.
