“Colourful Enchantment of Anton Shepa” made the world see a bright Transcarpathian artist in a new light.

23

April

2016

Recently, in Kyiv it was published a book about one of the brightest representatives of the Transcarpathian School of Painting, Honoured Artist of Ukraine Anton Shepa (1928-2014). The art publication, created by Robert Brovdi, Andrii Rusyn and Atilla Kopryva, is the unique and most complete catalogue of the artist’s works. Apart from Anton Shepa's biography, his photos from the family archive and bibliography, the book contains almost 120 reproductions that reveal the rich genre diversity (landscapes, still lifes, portraits, subject compositions) and illustrate the artist's 30-year period of creativity - from the late 1950s to the beginning of the 1980s.

Presentation of the “Colourful Enchantment of Anton Shepa” catalogue took place on April 19, 2016 in the halls of the Transcarpathian Regional Art Museum named after Y. Bokshai on the opening day of the personal exhibition of the artist titled “In memoriam”. Both events were timed to the 88th anniversary of the prominent artist's birth day and became a worthy gesture in commemorating and celebration of his talent.

Anton Shepa was born on April 17, 1928 in Pidhoriany village, Transcarpathia (now the district of Mukachevo). The painting style of the artist was formed under the influence of eminent teachers - the coryphaei of the Transcarpathian School of Painting Adalbert Erdeli and Yosyp Bokshai. He graduated from the Lviv Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts (class of Roman Selskyi), he taught at the Uzhhorod College of Applied Arts and worked at the Transcarpathian Art Complex.

Since 1957 Anton Shepa participated in almost all the republican, numerous all-union and foreign (Austria, Cyprus, Japan, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Mongolia and other countries) exhibitions of Ukrainian art. From 1970 to 2004, the artist lived and worked in Kyiv, after that he returned to Transcarpathia again. In 2008, Anton Shepa was awarded the honorary title “Honoured Artist of Ukraine” for significant creative and professional achievements. In 2014, he became the laureate of the Regional Prize named after Y. Bokshai and A. Erdeli in painting field for his work “A Witness of History”.

Sharing the impressions from the “In memoriam” exhibition, consisting of almost nine dozen artist’s paintings, an art critic Olena Prykhodko noted: “I would call this exhibition “Long-awaited home returning”, because he, as an artist, physically returned to his native land, like his works did. Anton Shepa was the leader among the artists - “Sixtiers” of Transcarpathia, although he worked closely with such bright masters as F. Seman, V. Bedzir, Y. Kremnytska. His creative enthusiasm is extremely wide: he worked in the genre of easel painting, graphics, he was a wonderful monumentalist... All the works presented at the exhibition, show the range of his talent, they are captivating and impressive. Moreover, they show that the Transcarpathian period until the early 1970s is the most significant part of the rich art heritage of Anton Shepa.”

It should be noted that the basis of the art catalogue and memorial exhibition of Anton Shepa made the works from the family collections of Robert Brovdi and Andrii Rusyn, thanks to which “Colourful Enchantment” of the artist, who was aptly named by the art critics “Transcarpathian Van Gogh”, actually appeared.