The work of the five-lingual, enthusiastic European Lajos Barta (*1899-1986) is closely linked to the historical events of his homeland. When art was misused for propagandistic purposes and free works were denigrated in the course of the founding of the People's Republic of Hungary in 1949, Barta continued his avant-garde work in secret: while as a sculptor he created - seemingly adapted - tondi, reliefs and sculptures in the style of socialist realism, as a draftsman he remained connected to abstraction in inner emigration. Barta's most creative phase began with the political uprising and social change in 1956: he was one of the first in the People's Republic of Hungary to create large abstract sculptures, and after his emigration to Cologne, he did so primarily in the Rhineland. The catalog presents his oeuvre in detail and pays particular attention to the drawings in the context of contemporary history.