Pedagogical Activity of Fedir Manaylo

The analysis of Fedir Manaylo's twenty-year teaching career provides insight into his pedagogical activities during the pre-war and post-war periods (late 1930s to mid-1950s). It sheds light on his teaching methods and evaluates the role of historical circumstances in shaping the first state-supported art educational institution in Transcarpathia. During this historical period, the territory of Transcarpathia underwent significant changes: it was part of the Czechoslovak Republic (as Subcarpathian Rus until 1938), came under Horthy Hungary's occupation following the Munich Agreement (1939–1944), and from 1945, it was integrated into the Soviet Union. The foundations of art education in the region were laid in the 1920s when Czech, Slovak, and local professional artists began teaching in gymnasiums, craft schools, and seminaries in Subcarpathian Rus. Among local figures, Yosyp Bokshay and Adalbert Erdely took the lead. They aimed to “care not only for personal artistic creation but also for the future of art, striving for the establishment of a local art school” [33]. In 1927, they opened a private Public School of Drawing with about ten students, including Andriy Kotska, Ernest Kontratovych, Adalbert Boretskyi, Zoltan Sholtes, Andriy Dobosh, and Vasyl DvanSharpotoky. By 1931, they had launched drawing and painting courses under the newly formed "Society of Artists of Subcarpathian Rus," offering classes in academic drawing, painting, composition basics, and art history. Among Czech artist-educators, Ladislav Kaigl deserves mention for teaching drawing to Fedir Manaylo at Mukachevo Gymnasium and recommending him for admission to the Higher Art and Industrial School in Prague. After completing his studies in Prague, Manaylo began teaching drawing at the Uzhhorod Vocational School, where he worked until 1944. From 1945, he joined Adalbert Erdely, Yosyp Bokshay, and other local artists – such as Ivan Harapko, Andrii Kotska, Ernest Kontratovych, Sandor Petki, Vasyl Svyda, and Adalbert Boretskyi—in teaching specialized disciplines at the Uzhhorod Art and Industrial School. Over his twelve years of teaching at the school, Manaylo trained a generation of outstanding Transcarpathian artists, including Volodymyr Mykyta, Pavlo Balla, Elizaveta Kremnytska, Edita Medvetska-Lutak, Mykola Medvetskyi, Mykhailo Romanyshyn, Yuriy and Natalia Hertsy, Anton Shepa, and Ferenc Seman. These students consistently remembered Manaylo with profound respect for the rigorous instruction and solid foundational knowledge he provided. Key words: pedagogical activity of Fedir Manaylo, art education in Transcarpathia, the period of the end of 1930 – mid. 1950s.