Petki Shandor

The name of Shandor Petki is among the names of the first members of the Transcarpathian Organization of the Union of Artists, his tangible achievements of the local painting school are connected with his work, he entered his unique poetic page in the history of the fine art of Transcarpathia.

Shandor Petki was born on August 12, 1917 in Uzhhorod in a typographer's family. After graduation from the teachers' seminary, he taught at the primary schools of Verkhovyna villages. The picturesque beauty of the region, the romance of the mountain landscapes, the communion with the spiritually rich, and generous Verkhovyna people amazed the sensitive heart of the gifted young man, awakened the craving for beauty, became a source of inspiration and an inexhaustible gracious theme of artistic concepts.

The enthusiasm for the painting of the young talented teacher was noticed in time by his fellow countrymen who were already known at that time - I. Bokshai and A. Erdeli. Using their professional advice, the future artist in 1939 entered Budapest Academy of Arts. Here he studied in the creative studios of such famous Hungarian artists as A. Benkhardt, I. Boldizhar, E. Alekfi. After receiving higher professional education, the young artist returned to his homeland, full of exciting youthful hopes, sincere desire to serve his native people via his art.

He was immediately involved in the creative life, became a constant exhibitor of art exhibitions, he was invited to teach specialized subjects in Uzhhorod Art School. His love to fine art S. Petki shared between the technique of watercolour and oil painting. He perfectly knew the techniques of watercolour painting, masterfully and artistically imposing transparent harmonious colours on the wetted sheet, paint flow, merge, dissolve, complementing each other, creating a unique and sometimes unpredictable colouristic effect. The visual forms melt, they lost their clarity, providing the image with a special exquisite softness, poetic.

Art uniqueness of S. Petki, his personal world view was relief and clearly manifested in his landscape painting. Amplitude of figurative solutions of the artist’s landscapes is wide - from the epic torn panoramic views to the silent lyrical chamber interpretations. The author every time finds the most suitable landscape subject, compositional, picturesque, plastic, and colouristic decisions transferring various emotional and mood shades. Beauty and richness of the natural world are depicted by the author not loudly, simply, and in confidence. It seems that landscapes of the artist are created by the warmth of his soul.

Shandor Ferentsovych Petki had lived honest, wise and fruitful creative working life. He devoted much energy and energy to the long-standing bossiness of educating young artists, passing to them his experience and knowledge.

Until the last days, the artist remained faithful to the artistic traditions of Transcarpathian School of Painting, the principles of realism, the art of clear, accessible and required to the public.