Béla Kádár counts among the most important artist personalities of Hungarian Modernism.
Born in Budapest in 1877, Béla Kádár at first attended the art academy in his hometown. After he had settled in both France and Germany in 1918, he soon came into contact with the local avant-garde and showed works in Herwarth Walden's famous Berlin "Sturm-Galerie" in 1924 and 1926. In his early period of creation Béla Kádár pursued a rather realistic style, later on he would develop rather expressive tendencies. Also Futurism, Cubism, Russian neo-primitivism and neo-classicist tendencies coined the oeuvre of Béla Kádár, which found expression in numerous genres. One characteristic feature that paintings (oil, gouache, tempera and watercolor) and graphic art (especially India ink) have in common is the acutely harmonious imagery and a combination of expressive-realistic, at times folkloristic and narrative elements with religious-poetic notions.
Béla Kádár was highly honored during his lifetime and even showed works in New York twice.