Sihetii Stepan

Honoured Worker of Culture of Ukraine (1981).

The creative nature of the artist is determined not only by his style or depth of image precision but also largely by the theme of his work. It distinguishes the artist from the usual, ordinary things. His works are noted for their originality. In general, these are artfully executed landscapes, among which there are monuments of wooden architecture, masterpieces of folk artists, still preserved in the villages of Verkhovyna.

Stepan Sihetii was born on 5 March 1926 in a peasant family in Oleshnyk village, Vynohradiv district. He showed his love for drawing in his school years, studied in the studio of Zoltan Sholtes – one of the founders of the regional school of painting. He studied at the Uzhhorod Teachers' Seminary, where fine art was taught by Adalbert Erdeli. With such teachers it was impossible not to love art or to stay aside from the art life of Transcarpathia. He had to do different jobs, not connected with painting, but throughout his life Stepan Sihetii spent all his spare time painting. From the young age, he became active citizen. In December 1944, he was a delegate of the 1st Congress of the Union of Youth of Transcarpathian Ukraine. For more than 20 years, he worked as the head of Open Joint-Stock Company Intourist in the Transcarpathian region, contributed to the development of the international relations with foreign countries. He was awarded the Order "Sign of Honour", Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Order of the 3rd degree, medals and diplomas of the USSR, Ukraine, and Hungary.

The Transcarpathian artists had a great influence on the artist’s formation. That is why Stepan Sihetii is considered one of the typical representatives of the regional school of painting. The system of images, themes of his works do not go beyond it. His style of painting was mainly influenced by Anton Kashshai. Significant also is the influence of Ivan Shutiev. But in the works of Sihetii, there is no powerful expressionism of these masters. The artist's palette is saturated; the tonal range is slightly narrowed with local colours being predominating.

During his long creative life, the artist created hundreds of paintings. The majority of them are landscapes. Together with his friends – artists Vasyl Tsybere, Petro Ehreshi, Semen Malchytskyi – and with his easel he travelled around Transcarpathia. Sihetii was the first of the artists of the region, who began to draw a series of churches. He painted over 80 temples of Transcarpathia on his canvases. Subsequently, this activity was continued by Ivan Shutiev, Vasyl Svaliavchyk and other artists of the region who immortalized the architectural monuments.

He started participating in regional and republican art exhibitions in 1979, not only in Transcarpathia, but also in Armenia, Slovakia, Hungary, and the USA. The first personal exhibition of Sihetii took place in 1982 in Oleshnyk village.

Later his personal exhibitions were held in the regional centre in 1990 and in 1996 under the title "Monuments of the wooden architecture of Transcarpathia of the 14 – 17 centuries and landscapes". In 2001, he opened the exposition "The road to the temple", dedicated to the 75th anniversary of his birth; in 2006 - "Golden crosses in the blue Sky..." on the occasion of his 80th anniversary.

Stepan Sihetii died on 3 January 2014.

Volodymyr Myshanych