Nándor Katona, Nathan Ferdinand Kleinberger

Place: Spišská Stará Ves

Born: 1864

Death: 1932

Biography:

Ferdinand Katona, also known as Nándor Katona or Nathan Ferdinand Kleinberger, was a Hungarian Jewish painter born on September 12, 1864, in Spišská Stará Ves, Slovakia. He was one of seven children of a dismally poor Jewish family and was discovered as a prodigy. Katona was brought up and instructed in painting by László Mednyánszky. He later studied in Budapest and Paris and traveled extensively throughout Western Europe. Most of his works depict scenes of nature from his home region, the Szepes county (Spiš) in particular views of the Tatra Mountains and the area of Késmárk (Kežmarok), which he considered his home town. His works are on exhibit at the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest, the Slovak National Gallery, the Eastern Slovak Gallery in Kassa (Košice) and the Tatra Gallery in Poprad.