Canoeing, decorative vegetables, pets

What did famous Transcarpathian artists like to do besides painting?

Sport, music, trips and even politics – Transcarpathian artists such as Yosyp Bokshai, Adalbert Erdeli, Fedir Manailo, Andrii Kotska had a lot of hobbies besides painting. They are worth knowing about to better understand the artists’ life. Thus, what did artists like doing?

Travelling: From Romania to Fiji

It is almost impossible to get a lot of impressions or gain inspiration while sitting around. Therefore, a lot of Transcarpathian classics constantly travelled to different places and countries. One of the major entertainments of a painter, classic of the Transcarpathian painting of the 20th century Gabriel Gluck was travelling. Even in spite of the fact that he managed to live in three capitals – Budapest, Bucharest, and Chisinau, once the artist had free time, he got in his American car “Willys” and went to explore Transcarpathian (Mizhhiria, Velykyi Bereznyi districts) and Romanian mountain villages.

“Unloved” by the Soviet authorities “Sixtier”, avant-garde artist Ferents (Ocsi) Seman especially loved travelling. He walked on foot all over Transcarpathia twice. More than 100 times he travelled to Moscow, as well as to Yerevan, Tbilisi, St. Petersburg, and Riga. In 1988, he finally went to the United States. He could have done it earlier because he had received the invitations from his relatives 6 times.

The People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR Anton Kashshai preferred travelling outside the country. He received a good scholarship from the Academy of Arts and used it for that very purpose. In addition to the countries of the socialist camp, he visited France, Italy, Norway, Canada, Japan and even the far-off islands Fiji.

A painter Vasyl Burch went to Africa. One of the founders of the Transcarpathian school of painting Adalbert Erdeli loved travelling as well. He was a regular visitor of the European countries. Just like his colleague, the People's Artist Yosyp Bokshai. For both it was a huge tragedy, when the border was closed as the territory of Transcarpathia joined the Ukrainian SSR.

Music and books

Music was another one hobby of the artists. Thus, Vasyl Burch was a conductor of the choirs, orchestras, he played the violin and had a wonderful voice. The People's Artist of Ukraine Ernest Kontratovych also sang well. The artist had a fine tenor voice; when a young man he was even invited to the conservatoire in Prague. He liked to sing “I’d play the bandura”, “Red guilder rose in the meadow”. Adalbert Erdeli loved the music as well. He played the violin, piano, he even played the cello in the Sighet Orchestra (Romania).

A painter Yosyp Babynets was not only fond of music but also danced at the Honoured Transcarpathian Folk Choir.

As for Yosyp Bokshai, he preferred books. Like another one People’s Artist of Ukraine Vasyl Habda. The latter was a real big fan of reading, thus he often read until 4-5 a.m. It became such a great habit that he could not fall asleep without a book, so he had to take sleeping pills.

Football fans

A lot of artists were fond of sport. For example, Yosyp Bokshai went to the football match of “Rus” team (Uzhhorod) every weekend. It was his passion; he did not miss their games. The artist’s hobby was also shared by Ernest Kontratovych. Long ago he played football himself – "barefoot and with men from Verkhovyna".  In one of his interviews, he said that he went to the stadium to watch Uzhhorod football players even in the rain. “I am very pleased when our team wins, and if they do not win, it does not matter, it’s their own fault. Football unites people,” he said.

However, artists didn’t just watch games, they went in for sports themselves. Thus, Vasyl Habda was an avid sportsman. He liked skiing, so he could get to, for example, one of the Carpathians tops. He also played tennis and thanks to this, they say, he was popular with the girls.

The People's Artist of Ukraine Yurii Herts was fond of running. He liked running at the stadium, when he was in service in Uzhhorod. A painter Sandor Zicherman was a great wrestler – in the early 1950s, he even became the champion of Ukraine in Greco-Roman wrestling. However, he was engaged in it only until his 20: to achieve the goal he trained 10 hours a day.

An artist, landscape painter Adalbert Marton can also be called a sportsman. In summer, he often rode a bike to draw his sketches. When after the rain the water in the river Uzh rose, he went canoeing. Once the river froze, he went skating. He also loved playing chess. For example, with Gabriel Gluck and other artists.

Many artists were polyglots. In particular, Adalbert Erdeli knew six languages and Ernest Kontratovych – five. The artist Vasyl Burch perfectly knew Latin.

Сivic position

The artists were engaged in social work as well. In particular, Yosyp Bokshai was a great community activist. He participated in the activity of the Rus People's Council, in the founding of Prosvita (1920), in the organization of creative exhibitions within the Artists' Club of Subcarpathian Rus (1921). In addition, the coryphaeus of Transcarpathian painting was one of the founders of the Transcarpathian Regional Organization of the Union of Artists of Transcarpathia in 1946. Adalbert Erdeli, Fedir Manailo assisted him as well. The latter was also very active, he helped to create Art Gallery of Transcarpathia, House of Folk Art, Museum of Folk Architecture and Life. He always told his position to mass media.

Some of the artists were in power. In particular, a sculptor-carver, People's Artist of Ukraine Vasyl Svyda was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR, of Members of Parliament. Anton Kashshai was elected to the city and regional councils several times. By the way, both of them headed the art union for several years.

From pumpkins to yoga  

There were other hobbies among the Transcarpathian artists. In particular, Yurii Herts grew grapes in his country house. Adalbert Erdeli loved flowers and trees as well. By the way, he was fond of botany and chemistry so much that he even became a laboratory assistant to a professor of natural science at the Sighet Teachers' Seminary.

Fedir Manailo was also fond of vegetables. He grew them not for food, but for decorative functions. The artist decided to revive the long-forgotten kind of folk art – pumpkin decoration. Manailo studied the technique of pumpkins growing and them the way of their painting. He devoted two years of his life to pumpkins. He grew them in his garden, and later – in a growing patch. As soon as they grew, the artist made a sharp carving on them. Pumpkins continued to grow and scratches were turned into relief lines. The drawing changed scale and proportions, colour and texture. The content of the images was deeply folk: rites, costumes, things of everyday use. These works are unique works of decorative and applied arts. The artist had a whole collection of them. Then those dried pumpkins were used to store honey and butter in them.

A famous “Sixtier” Pavlo Bedzir also has an original hobby. He was fond of Asian philosophy. Thus he studied Hungarian in order to read the literature that was not published in the USSR. He loved yoga and meditation – these passions became his spiritual pivot, the way of self-improvement.

Some of the Transcarpathian classics were fond of pets. In particular, Adalbert Erdeli had several cats and dogs, he even liked talking to them. He took his dogs to swim in the river.

An outstanding painter Yelyzaveta Kremnytska also liked pets. She could take a dog left on the street and took care of it.

When hunting, Ernest Kontratovych always refused to shoot animals and just watched them.

A painter Vitalii Zvenyhorodskyi had quite unusual for an artist's hobby – he liked to repair the equipment. In the sixth grade, he himself reconstructed an old radio.

Equally interesting for those times was the hobby of Andrii Kotska. The artist was fond of photography. He took the photo of the peasants’ everyday life, the unique state of nature, its beauty. He didn’t just take photos, he also processed them.

Vasyl Svyda knew embroidery and made himself a few shirts that are kept in the family collection. Adalbert Erdeli, on the contrary, bought shirts. They say, he had a few dozens of them – the artist, despite the difficult financial situation, tried to be into fashion.

The artists had bad habits as well. Yosyp Bokshai, for example, did not part with his smoking pipe.

Erdeli smoked a lot as well. He smoked cigars brought from Mukachevo. Ferents Seman was also a fan of cigarettes. According to eyewitnesses, he smoked 2 packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day. And drank 7-8 cups of coffee a day.

But, there is no doubt, that the meaning of life and the greatest love of all above mentioned artists was art. Thanks to it we have the opportunity to admire the incredible works of art and to be proud of our fellow countrymen who glorified the Transcarpathian land all over the world.

Text: Denys Fazekash
Photos from private archives and open sources
© Art & Culture Foundation Brovdi Art