Weith László
1914, Valea lui Mihai, Bihor County - 1973, Baia Mare
The Life
Born in a family of railway workers, he chose to be a passenger on the train of his life and be(come) a painter.
The Art
He painted mainly landscapes of Baia Mare, views, and intimate interiors. Compared to these, his compositions with figures are more clumsy, as has been pointed out by contemporary critics. They said that the figures in his scenes depicting the lives of miners are expressive, but the way of representing those is not honest, because the figures "get lost in dark colors".
The early choice of an unusual career
Weith László was attracted to the Artistic Center in Baia Mare, so at the age of 13, he enrolled at the Free School in Baia Mare.
He was the apprentice of master János Thorma and painters János Krizsán and András Mikola. Like other members of the younger generation, he was deeply influenced by Sándor Ziffer's correction.
Sharing an exhibition and a life with painter Lídia Agricola
Weith was accepted as a full member of the Society of Fine Artists in Baia Mare, in 1941. In the same year he participated in the group exhibition of the Baia Mare art center, organized together with painters from Satu Mare. Weith participated with “Portrait” and “Girl sitting” in the opening exhibition at the Pavilion of Fine Arts (Műcsarnok) in Cluj, in 1941. After crossing the front, he sent works to the group exhibitions in Baia Mare. In 1967 he opened a personal exhibition with portraits in the gallery in Baia Mare, presenting 33 paintings. Two years later, in 1969, he had a retrospective exhibition with the painter Lídia Agricola.
After the Second World War, he painted compositions with a propaganda message and portraits of Stahanovists, but he returned to the pictorial traditions of Baia Mare (from the mid-1960s). In 1950 he became a teacher at the School of Fine Arts in Baia Mare, in addition to Gheza Vida and Lídia Agricola. On July 30, 1953, he married the painter Lídia Agricola, his former schoolmate. They lived happily...until he passed away in 1973.
