Erdoes was born in Frankfurt,[1] to Maria Josefa Schrom on July 7, 1912. His father, Richárd Erdős Sr., was a Jewish Hungarian opera singer who had died a few weeks earlier in Budapest on June 9, 1912.[2] After his birth, his mother lived with her sister, the Viennese actress Leopoldine ("Poldi") Sangora,[3] He described himself as "equal parts Austrian, Hungarian and German, as well as equal parts Catholic, Protestant and Jew..."[4]
He was a student at the Berlin Academy of Art in 1933, when Adolf Hitler came to power. He was involved in a small underground paper where he published anti-Hitler political cartoons which attracted the attention of the Nazi regime. He fled Germany with a price on his head. Back in Vienna, he continued his training at the Kunstgewerbeschule, now the University of Applied Arts, Vienna.[5] He also wrote and illustrated children's books and worked as a caricaturist for Tag and Stunde, anti-Nazi newspapers. After the Anschluss of Austria in 1938 he fled again, first to Paris, where he studied at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, and then London, England before journeying to the United States. He married his first wife, fellow artist Elsie Schulhof (d. xxxx) in London, shortly before their arrival in New York City.
In New York City, Erdoes enjoyed a long career as a commercial artist, and was known for his highly detailed, whimsical drawings. He created illustrations for such magazines as Stage, Fortune, Pageant, Gourmet, Harper's Bazaar, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Time, National Geographic and Life Magazine, where he met his second wife, Jean Sternbergh (d. 1995) who was an art director there. The couple married in 1951 and had three children.[6] Erdoes also illustrated many children's books.
^Barnes & Noble 1988,1995, Richard Erdoes: AD 1000 Living on the Brink of Apocalypse
^Hungarian book review: Volumes 16-18; Volumes 16-18 Magyar Könyvkiadók és Könyvterjesztők Egyesülése, 1974 "A booklet is added in English, German and Russian giving details on the history of the Budapest Opera House opened in 1884, ... who died as long ago as 1905, or of Richárd Erdős, who died in 1912 in his thirties, or of Mihaly Takats.
^Phillips, Zlata Fuss German Children's and Youth Literature in Exile 1933-1950 2001. p.70 "Richard Erdös (*1912) b. July 7, 1912, Vienna, AHM Exile: 1940 USA Richard Erdös was born on July 7, 1912, in Vienna. ... political domination of the National Socialists made it dangerous for Richard Erdös, a Jew, to remain in Europe."
