JOZSEF BATO* (Budapest 1888 - 1966 London)
Harvest, 1930
watercolor/laid paper, 20 x 21 cm
signed Josef Bato, dated den 9.11. 1930
dedicated Alexander Koch zum 70. Geburtstag

ESTIMATE °€ 60 - 150
STARTING PRICE °€ 60

Jósef Bató was a Hungarian-Austrian-German painter and graphic artist with Jewish roots. Initially, he studied at the Nagybány School of Painting, the influential painting school in Transylvania, and from 1907 to 1909 in Paris with George Desvallieres and Henri Matisse. In 1909 he had his first exhibition in Paris. He maintained friendly relations with Matisse and his friend Albert Marquet. After studying, he worked as a freelance artist, first in Budapest and from 1912 in Berlin. He became a member of the Berlin Secession and was involved in its exhibitions from 1912. As a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army, he served on the Russian front in the First World War until he was wounded. He then belonged to the art group of the k.u.k. as a lieutenant in the reserve. War Press Quarter (KPQ). After the end of the war, Bató lived and worked in Berlin again. He traveled to the Balkans, France and Denmark. Bató was friends with Eugene Spiro and had contact with members of the large Hungarian artist community in Berlin, including. to Róbert Bereny, Alexander Gergely and Bela Kadar. Bató was a sought-after painter and graphic artist. In addition to his freelance work, he illustrated and designed books and made illustrations for magazines, among others. for “Pan”. He provided fashion illustrations for the Berlin magazine “Styl”. Original graphics appeared, among others. in the portfolio magazine “Der Bildermann” published by Paul Cassirer. Stone drawings for the German people”. Bato also took on commissions for murals and interior design work. Among other things In 1929 he created frescoes in the Steglitz town hall and in 1930 in the KaDeWe department store above the entrances to the snack hall, two highly acclaimed frescoes with images of agricultural food production “in the East and West”. For theater, etc. He designed stage sets for the Lessing Theater. When the opportunities for Jewish artists to acquire and exhibit were radically restricted after the Nazis came to power, the Jew Bató organized the first exhibition of the Jewish Artists' Aid in October 1933 with Spiro and Martin Bloch in the corridors of the Berlin Theater. In 1934 he presented the first comprehensive exhibition of Jewish artists at the Parsons Gallery in London with Spiro, Bloch and Franz Landsberger, and in 1936 he was part of the jury of the Reich Exhibition of Jewish Artists with Lisbeth Cassire, Franz Landsberger, Max Osborn, Rachel Wischnitzer-Bernstein and Erich Wolfsfeld Berlin Jewish Museum. Bató most recently had a spacious apartment in Berlin and his studio at Kurfuerstendamm 76, a house that was bombed during the Second World War. In 1936 Bató emigrated to England. Through Alexander Korda he found employment in film production where, among other things, he worked as artistic director, set manager and costume designer, among other things. for the films The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and The Third Man. By 1945 he was leading art director at London Films. In the last years of his life, Bató worked more as a painter again. He is also active as a writer. In 1947 “Defiant city” was published by the London publisher V. Gollancz. After researching cave drawings by the Cro-Magnon people in France, Spain and the British Museum, Bató wrote the young adult book "The Sorcerer", which was published in 1976 by the New York publisher D. McKay. Drawings and watercolors by Bató are in the Imperial War Museum and the Museum of London.

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