Béla Meszoly Munkas Hungarian Painter

Portrait of a man smoking a cigar by Béla Meszoly Munkas (1889-1942). The painter was born in Budapest, the son of a publisher. He left to study fine arts at the Munich Academy in 1907, then stayed in London and returned to Budapest. Wounded during the First World War, he moved to France in 1920, where he exhibited regularly at the Salon organized by the Société Nationale des Beaux arts, as well as in other European capitals such as London, Prague, Amsterdam and Barcelona. He was deported to Auschwitz in 1942 where he was assassinated on October 3, 1942. The painting is on its original canvas, signed at the top right and has two tears at 2/3 of the height. It is framed in a natural wood frame with a bleached Marie Louise. Without frame, it measures 81x65 cm.