Sigismund Kolos-Vari Biography

Sigismund Kolos-Vari

Hungarian

1899-1983

Biography

Sigismond Kolos-Vary (Vari) painter born in Bánffyhunyad, Hungary in 1899 (now Huedin Romania). Kolos-Vary studied at the School of Decorative Arts in Budapest in 1925 with Ferenc Helbing, Géza Udvary and Imre Sima. The following year, he made a study trip to Italy, where he discovered the Italian masters, especially Paolo Uccello, that influences his early work.

He first exhibited in Műcsarnok (Hall of Art) in Budapest in 1922. From 1928 he exhibited in Paris, in 1943 and 1945 in Geneva, New York and West-Berlin, Oslo. In 1982 he participated in the exhibition of Hungarian artists living abroad. In1929 he successfully exhibited in Paris and repeatedly exhibited in the Salon de Mai, and often in other countries like Holland, Germany, England, Japan, Canada.

He was a member of Atelier 17 art group which was founded by Hayter in 1936. He was in a concentration camp between 1941-1943, from which he escaped and went to Switzerland. In1946 he returned to France. He is often associated with the School of Paris.

In 1971 Műcsarnok (Art Gallery) once again exhibited his works. His artworks are in Jannus Pannonius Museum in Pécs and in public collections in Paris and in the USA. 

Sigismond Kolos-Vary died in Switzerland at La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1983.