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ILOSVAI VARGA, István Painter (Kunhegyes, 31st August, 1985 – Budapest 18th December 1978)   1917-1922: Hungarian College of Fine Arts, Budapest, master: Ede Balló. 1924-1925: study trip to Paris; 1929-1931: Ilovasi worked at the Colony of Artists located in Nagybánya, then, from 1932 in Szentendre, where he moved in 1935. 1933: Paál László Társaság (Society); 1935: Új Művészek Egyesülete (Society of New Artists; 1936: Új Művészek Egyesülete (Society of New Artists); 1941: A member of the Szentendrei Festők Társaság (Society of the Painters of Szentendre). 1965: Silver Award of the Work Merit; 1968: Meritorious Artist Award; 1974: Outstanding Artist’s Award; 1975: Golden Award of the Work Merit; 1977: the Pro Urbe Award of the City of Szentendre. Ilovasi’s inheritance was later moved to the Ferenczy Museum. His art took flight during the two World Wars. He originally studied law, and attended the night lectures of the College of Applied Arts, later the Free School of Károly Kernstok in 1917. Prior to his settling in Szentendre he lived in his place of birth, the village of Kunhegyes. Following his moving to Budapest he continued to travel there to paint and exhibit. His artistic debut was quite unique compared to the fine arts. He traveled to pAris, then soon traveled to Nagybánya. The paintings prepared by him during the course of the 1920’s show that he was aware of the works of Van Gogh, Cézanne and Gauguin, however wished to be related more to Hungarian predecessors, such as Rippl-Rónai, and Károly Ferenczy and Mednyánszky. His travel to Nagybánya also proves his wish to research Hungarian sources. His Fauve paintings prepared there during the course of this period meant the rejection of his previous descriptive type portrayal of natural surroundings, instead of vibrant color patches, he made use of a more homogenic, rhythmic style. His true painting personality however came to fruition following his settling down in Szentendre. This is where he found his poetic, yet structured view-point, which the city provided, and was already present in his perception. The small streets of cities, space, enclosures, walls of houses, and groups of people became the central exclusive themes of his paintings, following his moving to Szentendre. Ilovasi first painted primarily everyday situations, occurring in th life of the city, with anecdotic scenes, or social inspirations (e.g.: Szentendrei részlet nagy fákkal /Detail of Szentendre, with tall trees/, Három munkás /Three Workers/, Szegény Ember /Poor Man/). Later, during the course of the 1940’s and from the 1950’s onwards, he portrayed human figures by either an engraved, or drawn line silhouette (e.g.: Zöld Kapú /Green Gate/, Fekete kép /Black Image/). Within one of the primary positions of his compositional tools was the compositional role of color. His aim for consistent use of color was complemented by a strong ambition for the structuring of his works. A typical characteristic of his works of the era was for instance the unity of the houses and house walls, close up next to one another, within a narrow street segment. During the course of the 1930’s, especially in his drawings elements of the Avant-Garde, could still be found, however his more active works were those with softer elements. His landscapes, and portraits, the two other significant genres in his ouvre, also researched and probed the balance between color and structured spaces. A strong sense of dramatic realism may bee found within his portrait works, which followed through his entire life-work. For a short period during the course of the 1940’s a strongly highlighted usage of lines, signaling a stressed structural unity arose (Konstruktív önarckép /Constructive Self-Portrait/). His palette became more strongly colorful from the end of the 1940’s. The dark, deep tones of the earthly colors, and dark red slowly dissolved. During the course of the 1950’s, for a short period, he produced a number traditional street images and landscapes with the usage of conventional vistas. From the 1960’s not only did his usage of colors become much more vivid, but Ilovasi also began preparing boldly structured special compositions held in balance through the adequate usage of colors. His cactus and butterfly collection of significant scientific value, was regarded as legendary. This latter was bequeathed to the Hungarian Scientific Museum in Budapest. (translated by: Vladimir Végh)