Portrait of a Sitting Girl, 1944–1945

Ilka Gedő (1921 - 1985)

Born in Budapest. Gedő studied with private teachers, including Tibor Gallé and Viktor Erdei, and attended István Örkényi-Strasser’s private art academy from 1942–1943. In the wake of the German occupation, she was evicted in June 1944 and confined in one of the houses marked with a Star of David in Budapest, and in November, she was incarcerated in the ghetto. Summoned for deportation "to the East", she managed to remain hidden in the ghetto when an elderly Jew reported in her place. After Budapest was liberated in January 1945, she began her studies at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts but had to leave some six months later. She studied art in the evenings with Hungarian Bauhaus artist Gyula Pap. In 1946, Gedő married Endre Bíró, a biochemist, and gave birth to two boys. She resumed painting in 1968 after a long break, and in 1969, she travelled to Paris, where she stayed for about one year. Gedő's paintings were exhibited at numerous exhibitions in Paris and Budapest.

While sequestered in Budapest, first forced to live in a “yellow-star house” and then in the harsh conditions of the ghetto, where a lack of water, food, and medicines prevailed, the artist depicted in numerous drawings the people surrounding her, particularly the elderly and children. Although most of the subjects remain anonymous, some figures appear repeatedly, such as the girl woman she portrayed in many variations.