Sebők Imre

Sebők was a Hungarian painter, graphic designer and comic artist. He didn't learn drawing as a kid, but his talent was shown early. His chalk-drawings which he sketched on the pavement, were seen by Tibor Pólya, the celebrated painter and graphic artist of the time, and Pólya decided to educate the young Sebők in his atelier.

After the years spent in Pólya's studio, Sebők got to the School of Feiks Jenő; afterwards he studied at the College of Fine Arts under Aurél Bernáth and Oszkár Glatz. Because of financial matters, Sebők had to stop his studies before finishing and go to work. From 1932 he was working for the Hungarian journal 'Tolnai Világlapja' as an illustrator, and later he also illustrated other magazines, such as 'Antenna' or 'Délibáb'. He also created the covers and illustrations of the popular "penny novels" of the time. After the end of the Tolnai Világlapja, he started working for humorous and satirical magazines like 'Pesti Izé'. During the had times of the political regime of the 1950s he had to make a living by illustrating propaganda publications. In the second part of the decade new journals were started in which comics were tolerated, too. From then on he was creating comics series for famous humour magazines like 'Pajtás' or 'Füles', among others. During the 1960s and the 1970s his last works were 7 impressive comics which coronated his former comic illustrator activity with their beauty.

His style was characterised by the visual world of the comics and caricatures of the era. He was one of the important artists of the genre, contributing to the development of the genre. His compositions were mostly fascinating and grotesque, catching and engaging the focus of viewer. He could always employ a portrayal which created the expected visual effect and the needed atmosphere for the design, thus we can find colourful, layered and humorous compositions, cold and surrealistic designs with a spine-chilling atmosphere and even provoking, alluring representations, too.