Beloosesky Gallery is interested in purchasing paintings and drawings by Bela Kadar.
Please call (917) 749-4557 or email us at info@beloosesky.com
Bela Kadar (1877–1956) was a Hungarian painter and one of the most famous members of the early 20th century Hungarian avant-garde. He was born on April 7, 1877 in Budapest, Hungary to a working-class Jewish family. Kadar was forced to work from a young age after his father’s death. After only six years of primary schooling he was apprenticed as an iron-turner. Eventually he began his artistic career when he began painting murals in Budapest.
Bela Kadar initially assisted the mural painting company before visiting Berlin and Paris in 1910 where he came under the influence of the avant-garde art of the time. By 1918 had moved to western Europe where he befriended the fellow Hungarian painter Hugo Scheiber and settled for a time in Berlin to further exhibit his work.
He had his first important exhibition in October 1923 at Herwarth Walden's Galerie Der Sturm, in Berlin, showing work in an expressionist style. Walden was an important figure in the German avant-garde, being the publisher of the journal Der Sturm which featured the works of Franz Marc, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall and Oskar Kokoschka. During the exhibition he met Katherine Dreier whose Societe Anonyme was instrumental in bringing the work of the European avant-garde to New York. She put on two exhibitions of his work at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York City, the second of which, in September 1928, Kadar attended.
Bela Kadar notably employed aesthetics from a range of movements, such as Constructivism, Cubism, and German Expressionism, and focused on traditional Hungarian folklore to inspire his imagery. Whether depicting scenes of abstracted figures, objects, landscapes, or interiors, his work features bright, jewel-toned palettes and a fractured approach to rendering space.
During the course of the Berlin years, Kadars earlier expressionist style changed: the emotionally charged and powerful graphic tone that characterized his work before the 1920s was replaced by a more romantic mood. Elements of folk tale and fantasy gained prominence whilst his subject matter became more narrative. Influenced by the German Expressionist artists and Der Blaue Reiters, Kadar depicted rustic village scenes within primary compositions. His surrealistic dream imagery is, however, more akin to the compositions of Marc Chagall. Kadar adopted in his work a remarkable number of international trends, including Cubism, Futurism, Neo-Primitivism, Constructivism, and the Metaphysical School.
Today, Kadar’s works are in many private and public collections including the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest.
Bela Kadar died on December 31, 1956 in Budapest, Hungary.
TIMELINE
1877 Born in Budapest, April 7
1902 Attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest
1910 Won the Kohner prize
1955. Died in Budapest, December 31
EXHIBITIONS
1910 Solo Exhibition, Hungarian National Gallery
1923 Invited to show his paintings in Berlin at the invitation of Herwath Walden
1928 Brooklyn Museum of Art
1999 Geert Koevoets, Sculpturen en Wek op Papier. De Vierde Dimensie, Plasmolen/Mook
2003 A Storm in Europe - Bela Kadar, Hugo Scheiber and Der Sturm Gallery in Berlin. Ben Uri Gallery, London, England
2012 Selection from an American Private Collection: Stephan and Imre Deak, Virag Judit Gallery, Budapest