Béla Uitz (8 March 1887, Mehála,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

(today part of

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

) – 26 January 1972,

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

) was a Hungarian painter, graphic artist and communist activist. In 1907 he studied at the Hungarian National School of Applied Arts before moving on to the

Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts The Hungarian University of Fine Arts (Hungarian language, Hungarian: , MKE) is the central Hungary, Hungarian art school in Budapest, Andrássy Avenue. It was founded in 1871 as the Hungarian Royal Drawing School ''(Magyar Királyi Mintarajztan ...

in 1908. He was a contributor to the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

magazine '' A Tett'', published by Lajos Kassák 1915-1916. After ''A Tett'' was suppressed by the authorities, Kassák launched '' MA'' in 1917 and Uitz joined the editorial team. He attended the "Russian Evening" organised by ''MA'' on 20 November 1920 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. This led him to rethink his political-artistic stance. In "Jegyzetek a 'Ma' orosz estélyéhez" (Notes on MAs Russian evening) an article published in MA he was very critical of the Russian

Proletkult Proletkult ( rus, Пролетку́льт, p=prəlʲɪtˈkulʲt), a portmanteau of the Russian words "proletarskaya kultura" ( proletarian culture), was an experimental Soviet artistic institution that arose in conjunction with the Russian Revol ...

movement which he viewed as an obstacle to the parallel progress of the material and spiritual revolution he envisaged. Nevertheless he later developed a more sympathetic view of Proletkult. He then joined the Communist Party of Hungary who sent him with Alfréd Kemény to attend the 3rd Congress of the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

. Whilst in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

he met Jolán Szilágyi, a Hungarian studying at VKhUTEMAS. He was the editor of '' Egység'', a radical art journal published in

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, 1922-1924. Aladár Komját was his co-editor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uitz, Bela 1887 births 1972 deaths Hungarian painters Hungarian communists