George Ratkai

1907-1999

George Ratkai was born in Hungary in 1907 to a theatrical family, and his early years were spent in and around the theater.

At 14 he was creating movie posters promoting Rudolph Valentino.

During his early 20's Ratkai, who is self-taught, worked for two years in an automobile factory in Paris and spent nights painting industriously.

In 1927 the artist came to the United States and has lived and worked in New York for the rest of his life.

One of the top illustrators in the country for many years, he then turned to fine art when he felt he wanted to paint as he wished, in his own style and imagination.

He was invited to exhibit in several national group shows and his work, which was included in the "Artists for Victory" Exhibition, received high critical acclaim. He was accorded a one-man-show in 1946.

He was a member of the Artist's Equity Association and Audubon Artists. Some of his exhibition venues were Pepsi-Cola Company, the Whitney Museum and the Pennsylvania Academy.

His work is in the Tel Aviv Museum in Israel, and the museums of the University of Illinois and the University of Nebraska.

His work was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1956, in a group exhibition.

Ratkai was a print maker, he did a series of lithographs in the 1930s, he was also sculptor and photographer, he was represted by the Babcock in New York for many years.