Béla Balla
(Until 1889 Büchler ?) (Arad, August 24, 1882 - Baia Mare , 1965. ) painter, graphic artist.
Your career You haven't been to school regularly. After the four elementary schools, he became a merchant, then a printer, a glassmaker, a baker, a bricklayer, and finally a tailor. However, leaving all his occupations soon, he devoted all his time to self-education. He started painting at the age of eighteen and a few years later, with the support of several art lovers in Arad, he went to Baia Mare, where he studied for months. He then visited Munich and trained for a longer period here as well. He went on study trips to Florence and Rome. He then worked in his hometown. In 1911 he organized a collection exhibition of his works in Budapest and Arad. From 1927 he stayed more and more in Baia Mare, where he also took part in the life of the artists' colony, and spent the last years of his life there. He painted figural and landscapes in the spirit of the school in Baia Mare.
His works are preserved in the Hungarian National Gallery and several public collections in Hungary and Transylvania.
Sources
László Éber (ed.): Lexicon of Art 1. A-K (Budapest, 1935)
János Szendrei - Gyula Szentiványi: Lexicon of Hungarian Artists 1. Abádi - Günther (Budapest, 1915)
Kieselbach
Data in the catalog of the Petőfi Literary Museum