Background
István Varga was born on August 31, 1895, in Kunhegyes, Tolna, Hungary. His parents were István Ilgo Varga, county councilor, and Ida Takácsy.
Academy of Fine Arts
István Varga was born on August 31, 1895, in Kunhegyes, Tolna, Hungary. His parents were István Ilgo Varga, county councilor, and Ida Takácsy.
Firstly, István studied law, then attended the Pattern Drawing School and Károly Kernstok's Independent School. Between 1917 and 1922 he trained at the Academy of Fine Arts under Ede Balló.
István's work unfolded between the two world wars. Before settling in Szentendrei he lived in his native village of Kunhegyes, After moving to Budapest in 1926, he also went to paint and exhibit regularly. His artistic career was unusual in comparison to the Hungarian fine art life of the era. He had traveled to Paris and soon visited Baia Mare. His paintings in the 1920s were familiar with the art of Van Gogh, Cézanne, Gauguin, but he wanted to associate with Hungarian predecessors, including Rippl-Rónai, Károly Ferenczy, and Mednyánszky.
Traveling to Nagybánya also suggested finding domestic resources. The Fauve canvases made here, the refusal of the homogeneous, vivid colors of the rhythm to the surface, meant the former descriptive nature depiction. His festive self unfolded after his establishment in Szentendre. Here he found the poetic but built space construction required in the cityscape and in his pictorial vision. The small town street, square, gang, house walls and people were the only subjects of Szentendre's paintings.
István first painted the human environment, every day with anecdotal scenes or social inspiration, later from the 40s and 50s the human presence was cut or a line-delimited silhouette. His compositional role was represented first in his depiction tools. Its consistent colorism was complemented by the ambition of editing the image. Typical was the close, almost flat, unit of houses enclosing narrow streets and walls. Even in the 1930s, the most illustrious variants of the art of activists were discovered - primarily in his drawings - of avant-garde formations.
István's still life and portraits - the two other common genres in the oeuvre - were also exploring the balance of edited space and color. His portrayal of all his oeuvre was characterized by dramatic realism. In the middle of the 40s, a highly-highlighted expressive line system was highlighted for a short time. From the end of the 40s, its color palette collapsed. The dark, deep-toned earth colors and deep veils of the previous decade were dissolved.
In the '50s - temporarily - traditional perspective, perspective street art, still life was born. From the 1960s, not only did the colors become more vivid in his works, but boldly edited, the colors were balanced by space constructions. It was a legendary cactus and butterfly collection of natural sciences. The latter went to the Natural History Museum. In 1972, due to the deterioration of his vision, he stopped painting. The artist died on December 18, 1978 in Budapest.
Nagybánya
The House of Rab Ráby
Houses and People
Forest Scene with Colt
Pink Image
Houses with Man Carrying Stone
Painter with Model
Flowerpots on the Windowsill
Street at Szentendre in Stormy Weather
White Walls
Green Quinces
Reading Girl
Self-portrait against a Red Background
Self-portrait
View towards the Danube
Flowery Garden
Pumping the Well
Poor Man
Alleyway
Self-portrait in White
Houses with Crippled Man
Nagybánya
The Portrait of My Wife
Self-portrait
Oranges and Cactus
Red Still-life
Blue Colours
Zsuzsanna with Cactus
Yellow Blockhouse
Woman Painter
Still-life Composition
Istvan Ilosvai Varga adhered to the artistic traditions of Post-Impressionism.
In 1933 István became a member of the László Paal Society. Two years later he became a member of the New Artists' Association founded by János Vaszary. In 1936 he was elected a member of the New Society of Fine Artists. He became a member of the Society of Painters of Szentendre in 1941.
In 1926 István married Eszter Botos. Then he married again in 1969. His new wife became Csaba Margit.
