Self-Portrait

1915

Artillery officer in the First World War

In 1915 László enlisted in the Austro-Hungarian army as an artillery officer. In service he documented his wartime experience in crayon sketches, watercolours and writings.

July 1917

Wounded on the Russian Front

During the Kerensky offensive László was wounded on the Russian Front and convalesced in Budapest; he was then kept in the reserve.

October 1918

Gives up law for painting

Discharged from the army in October 1918, László abandoned his law studies and attended the private art school of the Hungarian Fauve Róbert Berény. Other accounts, by contrast, say he completed a law degree.

1919

The Soviet Republic falls; flight to Vienna

László supported the Hungarian Soviet Republic, declared early in 1919, though he held no office in it. After its defeat in August he withdrew to Szeged, where an exhibition of his work was held, and around November 1919 he left for Vienna. Other accounts date his flight to Szeged to late 1919.

1919–1920 · Résidence

Vienna

1920–1933 · Résidence

Berlin