Painter, printmaker, graphic artist and member of the famed "Monuments Men" of post-World War II America, Andre Kormendi was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1905. He studied at the Budapest Academy of Fine Arts before immigrating to the United States in 1937. Once settled, he began exhibiting his work in prestigious shows throughout the East Coast and Midwest, at the Society of Independent Artists, the Morgan Gallery in New York, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. 

With the onset of war, Kormendi enlisted in the U.S. Army and was assigned the position of civilian aerial photographer in 1942. Once the war was over, he was offered a job as an officer with the MFAA - or the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, also known as "The Monuments Men," - locating and restoring art and other significant objects confiscated or stolen by invading forces throughout Europe. He was stationed in Nuremberg in September of 1945 and served as head of the department until 1948. He was instrumental in recovering the Imperial Crown Jewels and returning them to Vienna, as well as the Krakow Alterpiece and Russia's Neptune Fountain, among others. 

Kormendi worked as a curator for the Guggenheim museum in the 1960s. He died in Falls Church, Virginia, in August of 1971.