Gyula Zilzer studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in Budapest and at the Hans Hofmann School of Art in Munich in addition to the Royal Polytechnic University in Budapest and the Academie Colorossi in Paris. He came to the United States in 1932 and in 1935 exhibited his work at the Mellon Gallery in Philadelphia and at the New School for Social Research. In 1932 he published a portfolio of lithographs called “Gas Attack.” From 1938 to 1948 he worked as a production designer and art director in California for such films as “The Life of Jack London,” “Sahara,” “The Short and Happy Life of Francis Macomber” and “The Miracle of the Bells.” His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, The Pushkin Museum in Moscow, the Graphische Kabinett in Munich and the National Art Museum in Budapest.