Gedő Ilka

1921 Ilka Gedő was born on 26 May 1921 in Budapest. Her father was a teacher at the Budapest Jewish Grammar School. The mother, Elsa Weiszkopf, was a clerk.
1939 In autumn Ilka Gedő visits the free school of Tibor Gallé.
1940 She participates in the second exhibition of OMIKE (Hungarian National Cultural Society of Jews).
1939-42 Due to family connections, she receives training from Viktor Erdei.
1942 She takes part in the exhibition organised by the Group of Socialist Painters that takes place at the Centre of the Metal Workers' Union.
1942-43 She attends the free school of István Örkényi-Strasser.
1943 Gedő participates in the fifth exhibition of OMIKE in the exhibition halls of the Hungarian Jewish Museum.
1944 In the Budapest ghetto a huge series of drawings is born.
1945 In the autumn of 1945 Ilka Gedő enrols as a full-time student in the Academy of Fine Arts. However, she leaves the academy after six months due to family reasons. She draws at the school of Gyula Pap, a former member of Bauhaus.
1946 She marries the biochemist Endre Bíró.
1947 She takes part in the Second Open National Exhibition of the Trade Union of Hungarian Artists. Birth of her first son.
1949 She stops her artistic activities only to resume them in 1965.
1950 From 1950 on she does not take part in art life. Her interests turn to the philosophy of art and art history. She translates extensive passages from Goethe’s theory of colour.
1953 Birth of her second son.
1962 The National Gallery of Hungary buys three drawings of the artist.
1965 Gedő shows a selection of her drawings from the years 1945-1949 in a studio exhibition. She resumes her artistic activities.
1969-1970 Spends a year in Paris. She participates in a group museum exhibition of the Galerie Lambert.
1974 She gains admission to the Association of Visual Artists.
1980 Retrospective exhibition in the St. Stephen’s Museum of Székesfehérvár, Hungary.
1982 Exhibition at the Dorottya Gallery of Budapest. The National Gallery of Hungary buys two of the artist’s paintings.
1985 Gedő dies on 19 June in Budapest. A solo exhibition of the artist is opened in the Gallery of the Szentendre Art Colony. A solo exhibition of Gedő is organized in the framework of the Hungarian Season in Glasgow. Gedő’s art is praised by the art critics of the Glasgow Herald, The Scotsman, Financial Times, The Times, Daily Telegraph, The Observer and The Guardian)
1987 Gedő’s largest Hungarian exhibition takes place in the Budapest exhibition venue, Műcsarnok.
1989 Exhibition at the Municipal Art Gallery of Szombathely, Hungary.
1989-1990 Gedő’s second Glasgow exhibition takes place between 9 December 1989 and 12 January 1990 at the Third Eye Centre (346-354 Sauchiehall Street).
1994 Solo exhibition at New York’s Janos Gat Gallery.
1995 An exhibition titled Victims and Perpetrators from the drawings of György Román made during the trial of Hungarian war criminals and Gedő’s drawings made in 1944 in the Budapest ghetto takes place at the Budapest Jewish Museum. From April 1995 four of Ilka Gedő’s drawings are shown at the exhibition titled Culture and Continuity: the Jewish Journey of the New York Jewish Museum for a period of six months. The Shepherd Gallery in New York City organizes an exhibition from Gedő’s drawings including the table series, the self-portraits and the Ganz factory drawings from 21 November to 19 December 1995.
1996 Supplemented by three oil paintings of both Gedő and Román, Victims and Perpetrators is shown at the Art Museum of Yad Vashem.
1997 Solo exhibition at the Janos Gat Gallery in New York City.
1998 The Department of Prints and Drawings of the The British Museum acquires 15 and The Israel Museum acquires six drawings by Ilka Gedő.
1999 Participation in the collective exhibition titled Voices From Here and There (New Acquisitions in the Department of Prints and Drawings) of the Israel Museum. The Düsseldorf Museum Museums Kunst Palast acquires ten drawings of the Artist.
2001 Chamber exhibition of Gedő’s drawings at the Budapest Municipal Picture Gallery and Kiscelli Museum. The National Gallery buys three of Gedő’s paintings.
2002 Two of Gedő’s painting become a part of the permanent exhibition of the National Gallery.
2003 Gondolat Kiadó, a Budapest publishing house publishes in English and Hungarian an album titled The Art of Ilka Gedő (1921-1985) / Oeuvre Catalogue and Documents. The sons of the artist donate twenty-three drawings and three paintings of Gedő to the Hungarian National Gallery.
2004 Oeuvre exhibition in the National Gallery of Hungary from 18 November 2004 to 3 April 2005.
2006 Exhibition of Ilka Gedő takes place at the Berlin Collegicum Hungaricum from 9 March to 10 May. A representative selection of the artist’s drawings and paintings is shown from the permanent collections of the Hungarian National Gallery and the Düsseldorf Museum Kunst Palast.