Notes on Art Criticism
ISSN 2226-2180
Article Vol. 25, No. 1, 2025

Lyrical aspects in the intimate landscapes of Zoltan Sholtes

Viktor Shtets, Oksana Melnyk
Received 06.03.2025 Revised 28.05.2025 Accepted 30.06.2025 Pages 7–20 566 Views

Abstract

The relevance of the research lies in the need for a deeper understanding of Zoltan Sholtes’s contribution to the formation of the Transcarpathian school of painting. Despite considerable interest in the Transcarpathian school, certain aspects of Sholtes’s work remain underexplored. This study aimed to identify the defining features of Sholtes’s landscape painting and to analyse the artistic means and conceptual approaches that shaped the emotional content of the artist’s chamber works. The study revealed that the main directions in Zoltan Sholtes’s landscape art were lyrical landscapes as depictions of nature, “humanised” landscapes, rural landscapes, and architectural landscapes. Particular attention was given to the emotional dimension of his works, in which nature acquired symbolic meaning and reflected the inner states of the human soul. The study highlighted the differences between Sholtes’s lyrical chamber landscapes and his epic panoramic compositions, with a focus on the compositional, colouristic, and technical means the artist used to convey deep emotional content. The key artistic and stylistic approaches in his work included realism with detailed composition; impressionism with the generalisation of form; and a colour-textured expressionism, where emotional colour qualities and rich painterly textures dominate. The lyrical landscape in Sholtes’s oeuvre emerges not only as a genre form, but as a philosophical tool for contemplating nature and the human inner world. Through the use of varied compositional, colouristic, and technical techniques, the artist imparts depth and multifaceted meaning to his works. The findings contributed to a deeper understanding of the aesthetic and artistic principles of the Transcarpathian school and underscore the significance of Sholtes’s individual style within the artistic processes of the 20th century. The practical value of this research can be found in art history, where the artist’s experience can serve as an example for developing methods to convey the emotional components of landscape painting

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Keywords

Transcarpathian school of painting; creative method; artistic language; composition; lyricism; intimacy; plein air

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Shtets, V., & Melnyk, O. (2025). Lyrical aspects in the intimate landscapes of Zoltan Sholtes. Notes on Art Criticism, 25(1), 7-20. https://doi.org/10.63009/noac/1.2025.07

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