Endre Hevizi

After studying architecture in Budapest and Germany he fled to Denmark at the end of the Second World War, and lived for a while as a refugee, becoming a Post-Impressionist oil-painter, muralist, and self-taught ceramist.

For a while, Hevizi was involved in decorating churches and housing estates, under contract with the Ministry of Public Building and Works and the Co-operative Wholesale Society.

Though semi-retired during the 1990s and 2000s to care for his ailing wife, in his late life he made a comeback, contributing public art in places of significance for the Hungarians of Romania.

Hevizi was born "Hévízi Endre" in 1923, in the city of Szeged, Kingdom of Hungary; dreaming of becoming a painter, he studied locally at the Gábor Baross Realschule (presently the István Vedres Vocational College).

Following the Soviet invasion of October 1944, the university was evacuated to Halle an der Saale in Nazi Germany, where Hevizi continued his studies and also lectured on architectural history.

"[3] At the end of the Second World War Hevizi fled by train to Denmark (paying "a hundred cigarettes" as a bribe),[3] and found a place at a refugee camp run by the Red Cross.

[2][3] Whilst in Denmark he was married to the librarian daughter of a cantor; the wedding took place in front of an altarpiece that was also painted by Hevizi.

[3] He then found employment as a labourer at the Staffordshire pottery company of Booths and Colcloughs, working alongside fellow emigrant Gyula Bajó.

[2] His diploma was not recognized by the Royal Institute of British Architects, though it allowed him to study for a master's degree at the University of London[3] between 1956 and 1958.

One of his professors there helped Hevizi to establish an interior decorating business;[2] also thanks to his academic connections, he became involved in designing for churches (though, as he acknowledged in 2015, he was "not particularly religious"), and obtained commissions from the Ministry of Public Building and Works.