The fifth element of Transcarpathia and the world: Imre Revesz and Hermina Kurbis

Uzhgorod.in continues a series of love stories of people who had an impact on the development of events not only in our region.

Unfortunately, general public knows little about the famous artist Imre Revesz (real name Imre Csebrai), although his works are at the same level as the achievements of Mihaly Munkacsy, Yosyp Bokshay and Adalbert Erdelyi. Revesz worked with the first one and became a mentor for the other two, when he was teaching at the Budapest Academy of Arts.

Imre himself is considered the founder of the regional realistic school of painting. His works are permeated with folk color, because he liked to paint realistic pictures of the lives of workers and peasants. It was a real ethnographic treasure that included everything: from clothing and everyday life to the spiritual world of ordinary people. Although he is called Hungarian artist, his life as well as his works are closely connected with Transcarpathia too. In particular, he spent his last years in the city of Sevlyush, now Vynogradiv, and was buried there.

Imre’s creative career was closely intertwined with his personal life. He married one of his students, Hermina Kürbis. They met in Vienna and liked each other so much that they decided to spend the rest of their lives together. Unfortunately, there is few information about her and her art, but she was a talented artist and illustrator of fairy tales. But it is known that they got married in Sevlyush on August 31, 1884. They had 3 daughters: Elsa, Klara and Vilma (drowned in the Danube). Klara followed in her parents’ footsteps and also became an artist.

When Imre decided to go visit his sister Margarita (she worked as head of the Ugocsa post office in Sevlyush), Klara went with him. He decided to spend the rest of his life there. After his death, he was buried in the city cemetery. I don’t understand how this modest grave with a wooden and marble monument still has not become a place of pilgrimage for art lovers and connoisseurs. But maybe Imre would not even want that?! His whole life was simple and calm, and perhaps family comfort and "quiet" art were much more important for him.