Ernő Grünbaum

Ernő Grünbaum (Nagyvárad, 1908 – Mauthausen, between late 1944 and April 1945) was a Hungarian painter, lithographer and illustrator. He worked in several styles, including Art Nouveau, Expressionism and Cubism, and his work is today known largely through efforts to recover the artistic life of the city's Jewish community.

His father's death left the family in severe financial hardship, and Grünbaum could not take art lessons despite his evident talent for drawing. He worked as a tanner and then a carpenter before apprenticing to a copper engraver. In 1927 he joined the Sonnenfeld publishing house, where he learned typography and met Alex Leon, an Expressionist graphic artist who introduced him to modern art movements.

His first exhibition took place at the Journalists' Club in his home town. In 1933 he took part in a major show of young artists at the Weiszlovits Palace. His first solo exhibition followed in March 1936. In Budapest he advertised himself as a draftsman and lithographer and designed covers and title pages for several books.

In May 1944 he was deported to Mauthausen with his colleague Jenő Elefánt. He died there, probably before the camp was liberated. Most of his work is believed to have been destroyed during the war. In 1992 his paintings were shown in the retrospective Light and Spirit in Oradea, alongside works by Leon, Ernő Tibor and Móric Barát.