She studied at the Mme Ernestine Lovagh's School and later was tutored by Róbert Berény, a Hungarian poster artist.
[2] She often created paintings and caricatures of these family members as well as their colleagues, sometimes even traveling to international psychoanalysis conferences in Salzburg and Vienna for this purpose.
Dormandi and her family were of Jewish descent, and so that year she moved out of Hungary with her husband, daughter, sister, brother-in-law Michael, and their son John.
At the end of the Second World War and the German occupation, Dormandi came out of hiding and was able to resume her artistic career in Paris.
Dormandi lived in Paris for the remainder of her life, although starting in 1956 she made biannual visits to the United States and often traveled around Europe to make portraits.