Pursued secondary studies in Rozsnyó (Roznava, Slovakia), Petrozsény (Petrosani) and the Székely Mikó College of Sepsiszentgyörgy (Sfantu Gheorghe, all towns in Romania). From 1913 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, where his masters were Imre Révész and István Réti. His studies were interrupted by the First World War. He served in the field from 1915 to 1918 and obtained an art teacher degree as late as in 1919. He worked in the artist's colony of Kecskemét alongside Imre Nagy in 1921-1922. He continued his studies as a postgraduate art student from 1922 and then worked as an assistant lecturer from 1924 and a guest lecturer from 1927 to 1929 at the Academy of Fine Arts, Graphics Department directed by Viktor Olgyai. He was awarded the graphic art prize of the Szinyei Merse Pál Society on two occasions, in 1923 and in 1924. He participated regularly in exhibitions of the Association of Hungarian Etchers in Hungary and abroad.

In the year 1925 he made a study tour of Germany, France and Italy on a scholarship granted by the Szinyei Society. His drawings and copperplates were exhibited in the Ernst Museum in 1925. He was awarded a bronze medal in 1929 at the World Expo in Barcelona. Touring London on a state grant from 1929 to 1931, he studied thoroughly the entire graphic works collection of the British Museum. In 1930 he had a joint exhibition with Gyula Komjáti Wanyerka in the rooms of Gallery Sleath, London. From 1931 to 1948 he was the head professor of the Graphics Department of the Academy of Fine Arts. Further pieces of his woodcuts and linocuts were exhibited in the Ernst Museum in 1932. From 1938 he was the Chairman of the Association of Hungarian Graphic Artists. In 1940 the Royal Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers in London elected him to be a member and in 1970 an honorary member.

His works were put on show in the Exhibition Hall of Art Lovers in 1941. He headed a private drawing school from 1951 to 1974. His works were exhibited in the Derkovits Hall in 1958. 1959 he founded the Small Graphics Lovers' Club as a founding member and later he chaired the club. In 1964 a selection of his works was exhibited in the Dürer Gallery. A comprehensive exhibition of his oeuvre was held in the Budapest Art Gallery in 1970. His literary activities are also noteworthy: he wrote a number of theoretical, historical and technical summaries on graphic art. His commemorative exhibition was held in the Csók István Gallery (1979), and the Paál László Gallery (1988).