Painter and graphic artist Koloman Sokol - born in Liptovský Mikuláš on 12th December, 1902 - is one of Slovakia's leading 20th-century exponents of graphic art, a discipline in which he was also founder of a distinct interwar tradition. Sokol attended the private schools of Eugen Krón in Košice and Gustav Mallý in Bratislava and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where he studied under Max Švabinský and T.F. Šimon. Following a period of study with František Kupka in Paris he accepted an invitation from the Mexican Ministry of Culture and Education to teach graphic art at the school of book art and the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Sokol left for the United States in 1942 and in the years 1946 and 1947 taught at the department of drawing and painting at the Slovak Technical College and at the Faculty of Education of Comenius University, both in Bratislava. Since 1949 he has lived in Bryn Mawr near Philadelphia in the USA. His works are characterised by dynamism and expressive use of graphic techniques - notably wood engraving and etching - and are informed by social criticism and a visionary imagination.