Hungarian painter Tibor Gergely belonged to a circle of Budapest intellectuals, where he met his future wife, the artist Anna Lesznai (1885-1966). He then studied briefly in Wien (Vienna) and in 1923 was co-founder of the Viennese marionette theater Gong. In 1925-35 he was a member of the Hagenbund, while from 1926-38 he worked as a caricaturist for German, Austrian and – after his return in 1931 – Hungarian newspapers and magazines. In 1939 he emigrated to America to escape racial persecution, where he taught at New York University and later became a US citizen. Gergely was primarily known as a children’s book illustrator, but several of his early oil paintings were later found in his properties after his death. His submitted works were probably created during his time in Wien. Today, hardly any drawings or paintings from this early period are on the art market.