Aurél Bernáth

Aurél Bernáth (1895–1982) was a Hungarian painter and art theorist. He studied at Nagybánya with István Réti and János Thorma. Bernath fought as a soldier in the First World War and moved to Vienna in 1921. Bernath's painting style was heavily influenced by the onslaught of German Expressionism. He was invited to Berlin by Herwarth Walden where his work was exhibited at the now-defunct Sturm Gallery between 1922 and 1924. Two years later, he returned to Hungary and joined the KUT, becoming one of the leading figures of the Gresham Circle of artists during the 1930s. He taught at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts from 1945 to 1974. From 1948 to 1949, he worked as an editor for the journal Hungarian Art. After 1947, many of Bernath's writings on art theory were published and became very popular.