Béla Uitz
1887–1972 · Hungarian avant-garde painter, member of the MA group
Béla Uitz (Mehala, Transylvania, 1887 - Budapest, 1972) was a Hungarian painter linked to the avant-garde of his country and a member of the MA group. His significance lies in combining his visual work with a left-wing political and artistic commitment that shaped much of the Central European avant-garde between the wars.
In Budapest he first worked as a locksmith while attending painting courses. Around 1915 he came close to Lajos Kassák, to whom he became related through marriage, and to the magazine MA, of which he later became co-editor. After the Commune of 1919 he was imprisoned and forced into exile in Vienna. He then travelled to Berlin and Moscow, where he established contacts with Russian avant-garde artists. Between 1924 and 1926 he lived in Paris and contributed to communist publications. In 1926 he settled in the Soviet Union, where he served as secretary of the International Bureau of Revolutionary Artists, and he lived there until his return to Hungary in 1970. His works are held in museums such as the Albertina in Vienna, the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg and the Hungarian National Gallery.