Biography

Zoltán Olcsai-Kiss was born in Szalafő (village in ‘Vas’ County) in 1895. In 1914 he applied for the College of Fine Arts faculty of painting, where he studied for a year in Szilárd Várday class.

In 1915 he was invited to the army, in 1921 he could return home, but he had to refuge so he had lived in Vienna and Prague until 1923. At this time he dealt with carving ivory statuettes. In 1923 he emigrated to Paris, where he continued his work. In 1928 following an exhibition in Paris, he got order from the Porcelan Factory of Sèvres to designed bisquit and porcelain objects. In Paris it also became possible to continue his interrupted art studies. He became a member of the Revolutionary Writers and Artists Association.

In 1945 he returned to Budapest, where in 1946 he opened a fine art free school for workers, and he got his first public order – he planned the “Ságvár” relief. During his artistic career he dealt with making and direction of puppet shows. Between 1949 and 1951 he was professor at the Csepel free school, than he was a professor at the College of Arts and Design. From the early fifties he regularly received orders from the state.

In 1959 he was awarded by the Kossuth prize. In 1965 he got the Work Merit grade gold. In 1969 he became “merited” artist. In 1978 he got the Order of the Red Banner of Labour – and in 1980 the National Council of Trade Unions Award.