Still life (1945)

He was awarded his doctorate in 1927. He studied at art colleges in Budapest, Berlin, Vienna and New York. In Berlin he became involved with the group Der Sturm. The journal, which also ran a renowned gallery, was an important publication forum for the international avant-garde movement. Its influence on his entire oeuvre was decisive. In 1929 he moved to the USA. He became a lecturer in the dermatology clinic of the New York University School of Advanced Medical Studies, and from 1950 until his retirement he was Professor of Dermatology and Director of the Dermatology Clinic at New York University. His most important and highly acclaimed exhibition was at the Contemporary Arts in New York in 1935, one of the most prestigious art salons in the United States, but he also participated in many other exhibitions, including the International Watercolour Exhibition at the World's Fair in Chicago. He was a member of the oldest American artists' club (Salmagundi Club), which also organised an exhibition of his work. After the war, he began to work in printmaking - choosing abstract imagery as his form of expression. In the 1960s, he published a number of portfolios of colour woodcuts. In his paintings, even in the 1980s, he often used foreign materials (bricks, sand, found objects, etc.).

Between 1942 and 1946 Ladányi served as a major in the US Army in the Mediterranean theatre of operations. In Italy and North Africa. At the end of the war, he returned home for two weeks to see his mother, and had an exhibition in New York. Ladányi's still life was probably painted sometime between these two events, and perhaps it is the visit home that is commemorated by the 'Hungarian' cuisine and the 'Hungarian' products (paprika, brandy) in the picture.