BÉLA KÁDÁR (HUNGARIAN, 1877-1956)
Reclining nude, four further pen and ink figure studies (on the reverse)
signed 'Béla Kádár' (lower right)
watercolour
17 x 19 cm. (6 5/8 x 7 1/2 in.)

Provenance
Private Collection, U.K.

Kádár was one of the leading Hungarian artists of the early 20^th Century combining stylistic influence from the movements of Futurism, Orphism and Cubism. He combined these influences with Jewish symbolism and traditional Hungarian landscape scenes.

The artist first studied at the Budapest School of Industrial Drawing and then the Pattern Designer Institute and began exhibiting his works from 1906. During the wake of the First World War, Kádár moved to Budapest in 1918 where he was granted two solo exhibitions at the Herwarth Walden’s Der Sturm gallery for modern art, in 1923 and 1924. His work was exhibited alongside artists such as Marc Chagall. Following these exhibitions Kádár was more widely noticed, and was eventually included in Société Anonyme, which was organised by Dreier, Man Ray and Duchamp. The society organised the Internation Exhibition of Modern Art, in which Kádár’s work was chosen to feature in 1926 and 1928, at the Brooklyn Museum.

The artist’s works are now widely recognised and can be seen in museums and galleries including the Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest; Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid and Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia.