Francis De Erdely was recognized for his artistic influence on many emerging California artists during the 1940's, and was known for colorfully capturing the plight of the working class in their own environment. DeErdely was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1904, where his father was a Hungarian military officer. His experiences as a teenager during World War I fueled the often horrific imagery in his earliest art work. His graphic depictions angered the Gestapo, and he was eventually forced to flee Hungary.

In his youth he attended the Royal Academy of Art in Budapest and during the 1930's he studied throughout Europe, at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, Spain and at the Sorbonne and the School of the Louvre, both in Paris, Franc...