BERETS VILMOS- JOZSEF

Member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (1956).

Vilmosh-Yozhef Berets was born on 14 March 1915 in Sigheti (Romania). He received his higher education at the Technical Institute in Prague and at the Institute of Fine Arts in Budapest, where his teachers were A. Blažíček, C. Bouda, Y. Seipka, V. Aba-Novak, and E. Baronski.

He worked as a teacher at the Uzhhorod College of Applied Arts. In 1948-1953 he took part in the creation of the city's art gallery. He began his active creative way in 1950.

He drew in various techniques of painting and graphics: oil, tempera, linocut, pencil drawing and pen, watercolour. The latter in the artist's work played an important role, because the works of the artist, made with the technique of so-called "picturesque graphics" – watercolour sheets, are very special. According to art critics, this technique served better to reveal the thoughts and feelings of the artist. Watercolour paintings with the image of landscapes are considered one of the artist's greatest achievements.

He painted portraits, landscapes, thematic compositions. He was also known as the author of art articles and essays. Chamber graphic works are characterized by a special full-soundness, luminosity of the overall colour, transparent subtlety and lightness.

A lot of time and effort V. Berets devoted to the study of the history of world culture. He was the author of many articles on general issues of art history, as well as on the works of individual artists of Transcarpathia. The historian and theoretician of art, one of the founders of the museum business, he collected extensive archival material concerning the history of the development of the regional school of painting, and in this is his invaluable service to his countrymen. The worthiest part of the artist's artistic heritage is stored in the Transcarpathian Regional Art Museum and adequately represents the visual culture of the region, its best achievements in the mid-second half of the 20th century.

Member of regional, republican and all-Union exhibitions. He died in 1999 in Uzhhorod.