Rákóczi was born on 31 May 1908 in Chelsea to Charlotte May Dobby and Ivan Rákóczi. His memories of his father rely mostly on fond reminiscences from his mother. Throughout his life he was proud of both his Irish heritage from his mother"s side and his Hungarian heritage from his father"son
Later in his life, he also rediscovered his Celtic roots. Autobiography
Basil Rakoczi also wrote an autobiography that details his life in an imaginative but frank and honest way. There are currently no planned publications of this autobiography though an official biography is rumoured to being worked upon.
Basil Rákóczi"s work has featured in over 150 exhibitions, of which more than 60 have been solo shows.
His first commercial exhibition was in 1935 at the Artificer’s Guild in Cambridge and throughout his life, he had regular exhibitions at the Irish Museum of Living Art, the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Watercolour Society of Ireland. More recently, in the summer of 2005, his paintings were featured at the Irish Museum of Modern Art along with other White Stag works in a successful exhibition.
Further exhibitions are in planning at locations currently unknown. He has art works in public collections across the globe including the University of Sussex, Derby City Art Gallery, Manchester City Art Gallery, Dublin"s Trinity College, the Ulster Museum in Belfast, the Queensland Australia National Collection and Auckland City Art Gallery.
He was a prominent and leading member of the Irish art group, the White Stag, along with Kenneth Hall.
