Biography
Pál Miháltz was born on April 1, 1899, in Magyarvalkó, a village in Kalotaszeg. His father was a painter-carver and music-loving Reformed priest blessed with artistic tendencies, who died very young. His widow moved with her ten-year-old son to her relatives in Szentes. He graduated in Szentes, where he gained his first serious visual arts experiences. After Munkácsy reproductions, he now saw the original paintings of the great painter from Szentes, József Koszta.
After World War I, he enrolled at the college, his master was Imre Révész, then János Vaszary. The latter's captivating, drifting personality also influenced his subject matter; instead of biblical themes with a more academic taste, he refers to the dramatic struggles of human existence with symbolic compositions chosen from the world of the circus.
His paintings were temporarily associated with the Italian novecento and the Roman school. His trip to Italy in 1929 must have played a significant role in this. His art and painterly individuality took shape most strongly during the summers he spent in Szentendré, in the company of Czóbel, Barcsay and Paizs Goebel. From 1931, he worked regularly at Szentendre. He had his first solo exhibition in the same year in Budapest, at the Ernst Museum. (He also held other major exhibitions here in 1944, 1959 and 1969). He participated in the exhibitions of KUT and UME from 1926.
From 1927, he taught drawing together with Jenő Barcsay at the industrial apprentice school in Budapest. From 1938 to 1946, he taught at the Freehand Drawing Department of the Polytechnic University. From 1946 to 1959, until his retirement, he was a professor at the reorganized College of Applied Arts. The true flourishing of his art began after the end of his sacrificial, more than three decades of pedagogical work. After his years as a university teacher, he was elected a member of the Szentendre Art Colony in 1946. In 1961, he received the first grade of the Workers' Prize, in 1965 he became a Merited Artist of the Hungarian People's Republic, and in 1973 he became an Outstanding Artist. He was also awarded twice with the gold degree of the Order of Merit.
