At the age of four he moved with his parents to Nagybánya. He started his studies in the famous city of painters (Nagybánya) while later he continued the secondary school in Marosvásárhely. After he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Kolozsvár, during 1963-1990 he lived and worked in Nagybánya. In 1990 he moved to Hungary, where, first he lived in Mezőkövesd, than in Miskolc and currently he lives in Eger. In addition to paintings he also did graphic arts, frescos, carpets and other textile works, metal chasings, ceramics, internal decorative artworks, statues, statuettes, wooden intarsia and wood-carving.

“The objects and colors specific to Nagybánya’s painting are undeniably present in his pictures. It is doubtless that he learnt everything in the language of the Hungarian fine art tradition impacted by the dialect of Nagybánya, however, he reaches out for any topic with the freedom of independent artist, when he paints, the style and profusion of his objects shows the evidence of his genuineness.”
Mihály Ilia

- Secondary School of Art of Marosvásárhely
- Ion Andreescu College of Fine Arts of Kolozsvár

- National Award No. I: Wedding of Máramaros, wooden intarsia – Bucharest, 1966
- Several Awards No I, II and III in various exhibitions

- 1963-1990 he had every year solo exhibition in Nagybánya
- 1965 Bucharest – exhibition opened by the art historian Jack Brutaru
- 1965 Zilah – exhibition in the Municipal Museum of Zilah
- 1967 Kolozsvár – exhibition of methal dishing kept in the Building of Basis of Fine Art
- 1967 Szatmárnémeti – exhibition in the Municipal Museum of Szatmárnémeti – exhibition opened by the writer Gábor Gyöngyössy
- 1967 Máramaros – exhibition of several internal decorative artwork, delineation of various topics of ballads
- 1967 Nagybánya – simultaneously 2 exhibition in the Municipal Museum of Nagybánya and in the Building of the Gallery, the exhibitions were opened by Géza Vida and Zoltán Banner
- 1972 Budapest – exhibition organized on the occasion of the 100 year anniversary of the Applied Arts’ Museum, exhibition opened by Miklós Borsos
- 1980 Brassó – Exhibition of methal dishing, compositions, rosettes
- 1993 Mezőkövesd – Exhibition of Methals, carpets, paintings kept in the Arts’ Centre
- 1994 Sátoraljaújhely – Exhibition from the selection of Nagybanya’s art creations prepared during 1963-1990, landscapes and compositions, exhibition opened by Zoltán Banner
- 1995 Mezőkövesd – Exhibition in the Municipal Gallery of Mezőkövesd
- 1996 Debrecen – Exhibition of the Nagybánya’s Art creation organized in the Great hall of the University - 1996 Budapest – Exhibition in the Haas Gallery
- 1997 Mezőkövesd – Exhibition in the Municipal Gallery of Mezőkövesd, exhibition opened by the mayor of Debrecen Gyula Halmai and by the writer Gábor Gyöngyössy
- 1998 Mezőkövesd – Exhibition in the Municipal Gallery of Mezőkövesd
- 1999 Miskolc – Exhibition organized in the Rákoczi House of Miskolc, opened by the writer György Beke - 2000 Sárospatak – Exhibition organized in the Municipal Gallery of Sárospatak
- 2001 Hódmezővásárhely – Exhibition organized in the Gallery 2000, opened by Zoltán Banner
- 2001-2006 – there were 4 exhibitions in the city of Sopron
- 2004 Győr – Exhibition in the House of Napoleon
- 2008 Felsőzsolca – Exhibition in the Bárczay Castle, opened by Balázs Feledy
- 2008 Budapest – Exhibition in the Gallery of the Bank Centres
- 2008 Debrecen – Exhibition in the Medgyessy Museum, opened by the art writer László Menyhárt
- in addition to the above mentioned exhibitions, István Kozma exhibited in several domestic and foreign private galleries

- He was already participating in exhibitions when he was a secondary school student, while as a student of the Acadamy of Art and as a young artist he was honoured to exhibit with his teachers such as: Antónia Csíkos, László Weith, Lídia Agricola, Géza Vida, Géza Kádár, Oszkár Nagy. His paintings were exhibited along with the most famous artists of that time such as: Vasile Chivu painter and graphic artist, Nicolae Apostol painter, Pál I. Erdős graphic artist, Károly Kiss, Margit Kiss Tormáné and nevertheless Sándor Ziffer.
- 1963-1990 – he participated in all biennale festivals and in all county exhibitions
- 1963-1990 – his metal chasings and carpets were exhibited in several various parts of the world (Brussels, USA, Canada, Sweden, Czech Republic)
- 1994 – collective exhibition in Miskolc, exhibition opened by Gábor Gyöngyössy and Gyula Feledy graphic artist
- 1994 – collective exhibition of County of BAZ in Sátoraljaújhely, exhibition opened by Zsolt Kishonthy and László Jurecskó
- 1995 – collective exhibition with several artists of Miskolc
- 1997 – collective exhibition in the Synergon Gallery in Budapest
- 2005 – exhibition in Stockholm

- 1997 – he has created the Arms of the city Mezőkövesd (metal chasing)

Other works

The foundation of the people’s cooperative society of Máramaros in 1968 is linked to the name of István Kozma, 400 members belonged to the society – they mainly prepared wooden, metal and textile works upon foreign orders. The blueprints and prototypes were done by István Kozma while the production was also controlled by him. This work played a huge role in the expand of his ethnographic knowledge.

“The unique harmony of colors and the energetic scale of colors characteristic to István Kozma, transmit a very individual personality to the spectators. His canvases have a clear structure. The perspective view followed since renaissance is characteristic to him. Through placing the picture-planes under or over each other he can play not only with the space but also with the time. István Kozma’s paintings are literally wrought and decorative. Despite István Kozma highly honours the traditions and his art is significantly impacted by the nature, on emerging from the trammels of conventions, he creates the world of his gleamy living, visionary paintings.”
Balázs Feledy