László Magyar became “committed” to painting in 1993, when he was accepted as a member of the Imre Révész Society. The Society was founded in 1990, after the fall of communism, as a group of Hungarian artists committed to the homeland and national traditions. In 1991, at their first exhibition in the Uzhhorod Castle in Uzhhorod, they celebrated their spiritual unity with the public.
László Magyar's painting style and the subject matter of his paintings are linked to the artistic spirit of the Imre Révész Society. According to him, among the representatives of the old Transcarpathian landscape painting, the art of Antal Kassai (Kashay) (1921-1992) is close to him. Indeed, there are many similarities in their approach, but one can also discover in his works the inspirations of other painters (Sándor Petky, Emil Hrabovszky, Zoltán Sholtész, Adalbert Boretszky).
His early paintings were characterised by symbolic landscape imagery. Painted with broad brushstrokes in a post-impressionist style, his compositions offered a curiously pantheistic vision of landscape and the representation of people. These individual works, with their distinctive imagery, were also considered philosophical. The typical colours of his paintings of this period are shades of grey, light blue and green (Tavaszi szimfónia (Symphony in Spring), 1994, oil on canvas; Őszi reggel (Autumn Morning), 1993, oil on canvas; Út a bizonytalanságba (Road to Uncertainty), 1995, oil on canvas; Facsoport (Group of Trees), 1995, oil on canvas; Rongyos hadsereg (Tattered Army), 1995, oil on canvas).
His later paintings show a marked change. His development led to a more concrete landscape and figurative representation. Nature, the depths of the small valleys enclosed by the Carpathian Mountains, forests and mountain streams are one of the main themes of his work. He captures the changing mood of the landscape from season to season (Tavaszi szimfónia (View of Lipótfalva), Az első hó (The First Snow), Expresszió (Expression)) and the Carpathian Mountains, shrouded in a misty, hazy mist, in several of his paintings. He paints a thousand faces of nature with deep emotion (Elvonult a vihar (The storm has passed), Tél – estefelé (Winter – towards evening)), and the same is true of his paintings of villages and farmhouses (Az udvaron (In the courtyard)). He is a great colourist. His richly coloured floral still lifes appear in many variations (Reggeli fénysugárban (Morning Glories), Napraforgók (Sunflowers)). The balance of his compositions is harmonious.
Besides oil paintings, he also works with watercolours. In his watercolours, his fine brushwork and rich colours are particularly noticeable.
His portraits, full-length paintings and figural compositions were shown at the last collective exhibition at the Carpathian-Home Gallery, organized by the National Strategic Research Institute in 2014.
The exhibition of recent years' production proved that the artist has found his own virtuoso style of painting. Through his magnificent compositions, his landscape cut-outs, his strong colours and his perception of sunlight, it was evident that László Magyar's art has gradually become liberated, and the artist has given himself over to a self-indulgent approach to landscape.
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Painting in Transcarpathia
Since the least known and least processed part of our visual art is the work of the Transcarpathian Hungarian artists, including the members of the Imre Révész Society, we will try to give a broad picture of the specific features and values of their activity. In our opinion, only in this light can we understand the place and position of Hungarian painting in Transcarpathia and add to our knowledge of 20th century and contemporary art.
Hungarian art in Transcarpathia (painting, graphic art, sculpture, applied art, photography, architecture) is still an unknown area of 20th century Hungarian art, because the periods, the artists' life's work, the various exhibitions and reviews have hardly been processed, and the scarce local writings have not reached the mainland. Due to the historical events of the 20th century, Transcarpathia became an almost completely isolated area, and almost nothing was known about the Hungarians living there. It was only after the regime change in the 1990s that the everyday life, struggles, culture, past and present of the people living there became public in our country. “People's room for manoeuvre, in the direct and even more so in the figurative sense, was so narrowed that we all lived in microcosms” says Ferenc Szemán (Öcsi), painter, member of the Révész Imre Society of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists of Transcarpathia.
This is why the meeting of Hungarian artists and craftsmen in Budapest in 1992, organised by the World Federation of Hungarians, was so relevant, when we could observe a handful of Hungarian artists from all over the world, from the former emigration and neighbouring countries, among the handful of artists from Transcarpathia.[2] We knew nothing of their existence until then, and their appearances, their presentations and their comments on hitherto unknown problems made us even more aware of our forgotten and present values. In other words, to the enormous shortcomings of our entire history of art, to the sins of omission. To take just one example, in 1993, at the exhibition entitled Honour to the Homeland, held in the Kunsthalle, our artists living beyond Hungary's borders were excluded from the show for political reasons. In 1996, in Budapest, the World Federation of Hungarians held a series of exhibitions in the Semmelweis utca headquarters of the Hungarian Association titled In honour of the 100th anniversary of the Hungarian occupation. The presentation of the artists from the Highlands, Transylvania, Vojvodina and Transcarpathia was organised by the Society of Hungarian Artists and Craftsmen, which was founded at the aforementioned World Art Congress. The catalogues published for each exhibition are still of documentary value, as they were the first to present and “demonstrate” the rich diversity of the art of artists living in their native countries in the neighbouring countries. From Transcarpathia, Pál Balla, György Benkő, Margit Berecz, Ferenc Erfán, Péter Földessy, Endre Hidi, József Ilku Marion, Ambrus Iván, Mária Jankovics, László Kolozsvári, László Magyar, Sándor Magyar, Péter Matl, Zoltán Micska, Péter Petky, János Réti, György Riskó, Ferenc Szemán (Öcsi), Lajos Tóth, Péter Veres were the first artists to exhibit together in Hungary. By comparing their works with those of other artists from Transylvania, Felvidék and Vojvodina, the different themes and styles of the members of the Transcarpathian Révész Imre Society showed the strong presence and expression of the attachment to the homeland, the Hungarian nation and culture. It has been proven that they have their own, hitherto unknown to us, means of expression, which are simple and authentic.
Imre Révész Society
The Society of Transcarpathian Hungarian Artists and Craftsmen, founded in 1990, is a declared association of Transcarpathian Hungarian artists from outside the official state association. Its president, the late painter Lajos Tóth, led the society with great care and responsibility.
Writer László Fábián Vári describes them as follows: “About ten years before the turn of the millennium, caught up in the maelstrom of the regime changes in Central and Eastern Europe, the Hungarian artists and craftsmen of Transcarpathia also established their own professional society. They could have chosen the name of Mihály Munkácsy, the best-known Hungarian painter from his native land, or Simon Hollósy, another artistic giant known as the founder of the Nagybánya School of Painting. But they, who were regularly excluded from the most important exhibitions in Hungary in the 1970s and 1980s by the jury of the ruling party, took Imre Révész's name as their flag bearer, a man who cherished national traditions while at the same time being highly sensitive to social conflicts. We cannot believe that it was a random choice, nor that the great forefather's old age, linked to Nagyszőlős, was the dominant factor. It is rather plausible that Imre Révész's name still carries an important message, and his spirit is a cohesive force of this community, which, beyond the unconditional insistence on professional excellence, obliges us to the unceasing search for social justice.”[3]
In their publication Imre Révész Society of Transcarpathian Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists 1990-1995, published on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of their foundation, the artists speak about their creed and their art, alongside black and white reproductions.[4] Their words reveal that they themselves define their own art “in opposition” to the Transcarpathian artists. But this is neither a denial of the traditions of the Transcarpathian school nor an opposition to it.
In order to understand this question, we would like to quote from the foreword of the painter, public writer and critic Károly D. Balla, entitled The Addressing of the Sentient Soul, which he wrote for the aforementioned publication. Referring to the most comprehensive exhibition of their work held at the time in the Uzhhorod Castle in Uzhhorod, the elder colleague assesses their work in the following words: “half a decade has proved enough to make this group of artists one of the most important intellectual workshops of our region. The members of the group, while retaining their individual characteristics, complement and strengthen each other, representing an artistic conception which, somewhat bypassing the achievements of the so-called Transcarpathian school of painting in recent decades, returns to the national traditions and can be considered a renewal and modern application of the realistic painting of the Lowland.”[5]
Another very important factor in the self-definition of the company's role, Balla pointed out, is that “many people are concerned, or at least reserved, about the fact that this group of artists was founded on the basis of nationality, with the adjective 'Hungarian' in its full name.” He does not avoid the question. He explains that while many invoke the universal language of painting and art, and oppose or even dispute the mere raising of the issue, in the case of the Transcarpathians there are strong reasons to support their views. “By asserting and stating national character, by taking stock of the existence or absence of a sense of national identity, the members of this society are responding to a decades-old practice of cultural politics that has been denigrating. They affirm that being Hungarian does not imply any kind of separation, nor does it contradict their conviction that art is a universally human value. But, at the same time, they consider it of unheard-of importance to join the explicitly Hungarian national culture, to use Hungarian folk art as a source of inspiration and, last but not least, to serve the Hungarian inhabitants of the lowland landscape at the foot of the Carpathians in the artistic language that is close to them and (also) draws on their traditions.”[6]
Nationality and commitment are also prominent in the interviews with artists. Sándor Horváth began his conversation with painter Lajos Tóth with lines that, in 2015, during the Ukrainian-Russian war, make us even more aware of the terrible situation of the people living there. “It is difficult to exist in Transcarpathia these days. As creators, it is sometimes almost impossible to live with the moral, material and spiritual degradation imposed on us. This line of thought leads me to my first question: what is it worth to be a painter, a Transcarpathian and a Hungarian?” The answer of the painter, who died prematurely, is not untypical: “Time usually decides what a painter is worth. What is an artist worth if he wants to send a message to the small and big country by assuming his Hungarian identity here in Transcarpathia? On the one hand, it is worth what he fulfils his commitment, and on the other hand, it is worth no more and no less than the work he creates. Here, in Transcarpathia, I am a painter and a Hungarian. And I will stay here! These are questions of fact. That is how I am a creator, that is what my works are about, that is what I undertake.” According to Lajos Tóth, who creates his own style and symbolic subject matter, the painting “bears the signature of the artist, his character and the external forces that influence him so precisely that in this respect it is perhaps more determined than works woven from words.
“So there is a specific Hungarian painterly language?” asks Horváth S.
“There is.”
“And is there a specific Transcarpathian Hungarian pictorial language?”
“Yes. I say this despite the fact that for the whole of Transcarpathian Hungarian culture, the period from 1945 to 1985 was a period of hardship, and we were deprived of almost everything. Nevertheless, under the ashes and the snow, the will worked, lived, and perhaps even had an effect, and a particular way of expression was formed. In other words: each did his work as best he could, according to his talent, his vocation, his identity.”[7]
The exhibition in Uzhhorod was not only the group's largest exhibition to date, but also an extremely significant event in terms of the unfolding of the life and culture of the Transcarpathian Hungarian community and the power of self-promotion.[8]
It was clearly for political-social reasons that the artists, who had been pushed to the periphery of livelihood, cultural and national existence (both from the Soviet and Hungarian sides), under severe economic conditions and under the oppression of the authorities, set as their goal the development of their own creative language in Transcarpathia.
It is only an apparent contradiction to talk about the creation of a Transcarpathian artistic language of its own when the official Transcarpathian school of painting and art has been “existing” and has been in existence for decades. The name of two Hungarian painters, József Boksay and Béla Erdélyi, who live and work there and are renowned not only in the region but throughout Ukraine, is a hallmark of this.[9] As the founders of the school, their influence can be traced back to the present day through their students.
The question is apparently even more controversial if we know the relatively narrow history of the local visual arts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In this light, all the painters living here - and the members of the Imre Révész Society themselves (most of whom graduated from the Uzhhorod School of Applied Arts), through their teachers - can be linked to the art of Erdélyi and Boksay. This is why Lajos Tóth reacts to this question in a nuanced way when he says: “we would like to continue the Transcarpathian line of painting, which is marked by the names of Erdélyi and Boksay, and at the same time work in a way that we have our own colouring and fit in organically with modern Hungarian and European trends.”[10]
Elemér Kovács also introduces his conversation with painter László Kolozsvári by discussing “heritage”: “in the mid-1970s, after finishing his studies, a talented group of artists consciously “disowns” the famous Transcarpathian school of painting. Its members prefer to build on the classical painting and cultural traditions of the turn of the century. Those who wish to continue the line marked by the names of Mihály Munkácsy, Gyula Ijjász, Ignác Roskovics.”[11] Or, let us add, obviously Imré Révész (Sátoraljaújhely, 1859 - Nagyszőlős, 1945). When they chose their names, they understandably did not think of the other great master, Simon Hollósy (Máramarossziget, 1857 - Técső, 1918), for two reasons. On the one hand, the name of the founder of the Nagybánya school of painting was taken. On the other hand, the style of Transylvanian and modern Hungarian pictorialism represents a clearly different approach, landscape, genre and portrait conception than that of Transcarpathian pictorialism.
This deliberate “step backwards” may seem anachronistic to us, but it is not an anachronism, but a closed internal development that, once national repression is gone, can and will enrich our visual arts with countless colours. The direction and art of the Imre Révész Society, which emerged from a “forgotten” corner of history, has a clear legitimacy in our entire Hungarian culture. In the diversity of Hungarian art, representing countless trends, generational differences and stylistic perceptions, their art is as present and integral as that of the artists who continue the tradition of Nagybánya to the present day, offering a multitude of post-impressionism.
We can only judge their specific connection to Hungarian art and this question well if we know exactly the circumstances and reasons that brought together the members of the Imre Révész Society, who thought and felt differently and in different styles, but in the same ideological system. (Ferenc Erfán completed their studies at the State College of Fine and Applied Arts in Lviv, Mária Jankovics and Margit Berecz at the College of Applied Arts in Lemberg, Ferenc Szemán at the College of Fine Arts in Tallinn.) Their strong orientation and choice of direction were due to political and artistic reasons.
For them, returning to tradition - to the art of Munkácsy and Révész - is their ars poetics, their sense of mission to their homeland and their Hungarianness, and their faith in the future. In the bleakness that surrounds them, these roots provide the strength and inspiration to create. At the same time, there is no sharp opposition either to the new trends in Ukraine or in Europe. Only they separate themselves from the former Soviet Ukrainian-Russian art scene.
They have thus marked a new beginning by their choice: by consciously detaching and rejecting the art and cultural past defined by politics and the regime. It is also a critique of the “school of painting in Transcarpathia”, as Boksay and Erdélyi called it. The well-known representatives of the first, second and third generations of the school compromised themselves, seeking to meet the official requirements of the time. After 1945, their art became empty, discredited and 'foreign'. As László Kolozsvári said, 'of the greats I know and respect, János Sütő, Gábor Glück, Antal Kassai had their own mature style by the time they started out, and they are perhaps the last ones who were able to show something new from the Carpathian landscape through their work. The official Soviet-Ukrainian regime, however, regarded the Carpathian range, the mountains and the landscape covered with endless forests, as the main landscape motif in Ukrainian painting. This is why the distinctive blue, bluish purple colours of Russian-Ukrainian art (and folk art) began to be used more strongly in the paintings. Only those who belonged to the nomenclature were given access to official state exhibitions, awards and commissions. Many people could say that the Khrushchev and Brezhnev eras were a torture of agony for them. And only by working and painting all the time, like Ferenc Semán, could they survive.
[1] Kárpátaljai Magyar Képző- és Iparművészek Révész Imre Társasága (Révész Imre Society of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists of Transcarpathia) 1990-1995. The authors of the volume are Mihály Debreceni, Sándor Horváth, Endre Jánki, Elemér Kovács, Zoltán Kulin, István Palkó, Andor Tárczy, Béla Varga. Tárogató Lap-és Könyvszerkesztőség, Uzhhorod, 1995, 112.
[2] For those present, this was as much a surprise and a recognition as the group of Hungarians from Africa at the first World Meeting of the World Federation of Hungarians after the change of regime.
[3] Website: http://credoalapitvany.virtualave.net/revesz/index_hu.htm In 1998 the Imre Révész Society joined the then registered Transcarpathian Hungarian Church Cultural Revival, Music and Fine Arts Credo Foundation.
[4] Conversations with individual artists: with the painter György Benkő – Zoltán Kulin: Georges, the Asymmetrical, with the textile artist Margit Berecz – Andor Tárczy: Madonna – With a Brush, with the painter Ferenc Erfán – Mihály Debreczeni: Cut into Glass, with the ceramic artist Edre Hidi – Elemér Kovács: The Flame of the Haystack hut, with the painter Ambrus Iván – E. Kovács: So That One May Delight in Solitude, with the textile artist Mária Jankovics – István Palkó: The Colour Artist, with the painter László Kolozsvári – E. Kovács: For Whom the “Great Nothing” Is Everything, with the painter László Magyar – M. Debreczeni: One Must Never Give Up Hope, with the goldsmith Sándor Magyar – András Jánki: Iron Flowers, with the painter and graphic artist Péter Petky – Béla Varga: Without Art We Would Still Be in the Stone Age, with the painter and graphic artist János Réti – A. Tárczy: Dancing in Serenity, with the painter György Riskó – B. Varga: Man Needs Faith, with the painter Ferenc Szemán – Sándor Horváth: Love, Beauty, Peace, with the painter and graphic artist Lajos Tóth – S. Horváth: Long-Distance Running – With Obstacles, with the painter Péter Veres – A. Jánki: If Fate Has Summoned Us Here.
[5] Révész Imre Society of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists of Transcarpathia 1990-1995.
[6] ibid. pp. 6.
[7] ibid. pp. 121.
[8] Fifteen members of the Imre Révész Society presented their work at the exhibition. Of the original 14 founding members, two had moved to Hungary by 1995 and three more were added.
[9] Both József Boksay (1891-1975) and Béla Erdélyi (1891-1955) studied at the Budapest Academy of Fine Arts. Boksay became famous for his Impressionist landscapes and classically composed church altarpieces between 1910 and 1914, and then returned to his native country. His work on the latter subject brought him into disrepute during the Soviet era. After his studies in Budapest (1911-1916), Béla Erdélyi spent extended periods in Munich and Paris. On his return to Transcarpathia, he worked as a teacher and held important positions in the public life of the fine arts.
[10] Imre Révész Society of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists of Transcarpathia 1990-1995, pp. 121.
[11] ibid. 60.László Kolozsvári (1950-2013) painter, a follower of the realist tradition associated with M. Munkácsy and I. Révész, and of the Lowland painting.
[12] Imre Révész Society of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists of Transcarpathia 1990-1995, pp. 61.