Zoltán Wessel

Little is known about his life and works. In 1920 he was a first-grader at the main school of the 4th district of the city centre. Between 1928 and 1933 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, and then trained at the Miskolc Art School. His master was István Réti. His name first appeared at the youth exhibition of the Szinyei Society in March 1933. He worked as a drawing teacher in Vác. He participated in group exhibitions at the National Salon and OMIKE. 

 

In 1938 he worked at the Israelite Civil Girls' School in Vác, and in 1940 he was a substitute teacher at the PIH high school in Budapest. He stayed at the school in Vác, at least in 1942 he was listed as a teacher at the school. He participated in the third exhibition of watercolours at the OMIKE Art Action in 1942. 

 

Zoltán Wessel's brother Imre and their father were both painters. Both perished in Auschwitz. After the war, Zoltán was a drawing teacher at the high school of the Jewish Community of Pest. In 1952 he participated in the Ernst Museum's exhibition "Hungarian-Soviet Friendship" with an oil painting of Gorky. The Institute of Theatre History preserves a picture of Kálmán Latabár painted in 1955. The news of his death was published in Népszabadság in December 1992.