ADALBERT ERDELI
1891–1955
Adalbert Erdeli born in 1891 in Zahattia, Hungarian. Painter, pedagogue, and cultural activist. Educated at the Academy of Art in Budapest (1911-1915). In 1927 together with Iosyf Bokshai founded a private art school in Uzhhorod. In 1929-1931 lived and worked in Paris, where the artist was close with the circle of artists that included the post-Impressionists Henri Matisse, Max Vlaminck, and André Derain. The greatest influence on Erdeli, however, was the artistic legacy of Paul Cézanne. Upon his return to Uzhhorod, Erdeli took an active part in the establishment (1931) of the Society of Fine Arts in Subcarpathian Rus’. 1946 he became a director of Uzhhorod Art Pedagogical Institute and was removed from this position in 1947. He died in Uzhhorod in 1955.