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Béla Kádár began his career as an artist painting murals, and by 1910 he had made two pilgrimages to Paris and Berlin. Kádár's first important exhibition came in October 1923 at the gallery of Herwarth Walden, a writer and patron of the avant-garde movement in Berlin. Walden also published the influential journal Der Sturm, which Kádár collected ardiously to study the works of such featured artists as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Oskar Kokoschka and Franz Marc.
During a group exhibition with other Der Sturm artists, Kádár was introduced to Katherine Dreier. As the enterprising director of the Socété Anonyme based in New York, Dreier brought the work of the German and European avant-garde to America. She introduced Kádár to audiences in America with two exhibitions of his work at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Tn September 1928 Kádár first traveled to New York for the second of the Brooklyn Museum exhibitions. It was during this time that he became acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. Imre Deák.
Imre Deák studied at the Royal Academy in Budapest and completed a masters degree at the New England Conservatory of Music, where Mary Elizabeth Gise was also a student. The two married in 1918, and sharing tastes in music and collecting, surrounded themselves with many important artists, writers and muscians of the day.
The following selection of constructivist compositions and charcoal sketches of the 1920s and early 1930s (lots 27-34) offers a brief but fascinating overview of Kádár's varied and prolific career. In these works the artist brought together the rural traditions of Hungarian folklore, the decorative genius if the country's renowned folk arts, with the stylistic elements derived from cubo-futurism, expressionism and constructivism. A second selection of works from this collection will be included in the Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper sale on May 5.
Béla Kádár (1877-1955)
Portrait of Mrs. Deak
Details
Béla Kádár (1877-1955)
Portrait of Mrs. Deak
signed and inscribed 'MRS. DEÁK From: KÁDÁR BÉLA' (lower left)
watercolor over pencil on paper
18 3/8 x 13½ in. (47 x 34.5 cm.)
Portrait of Mrs. Deak
signed and inscribed 'MRS. DEÁK From: KÁDÁR BÉLA' (lower left)
watercolor over pencil on paper
18 3/8 x 13½ in. (47 x 34.5 cm.)
Provenance
Mary Elizabeth Gise (Mrs. Imre Deak), New York (acquired from the artist).
By descent from the above to the present owner.
By descent from the above to the present owner.