July 18, 1946 – July 9, 2023

Tahoe’s Superlative Painter
Local Artist Extraordinaire

Peter was born July 18, 1946, in Kisvarda, Hungary. His parents, Maria (Filczer) and Bela Darvas were divorced early on, and Peter was raised by his maternal grandmother. At the age of 10 he was taken by his father and smuggled out of the country during the 1956 revolution. They spent more than a year in a refugee camp in Austria where Peter learned German while attending elementary school.
Bela’s sister and her husband who lived in the US, helped support Peter during his teen and early adult years. Peter had a half brother, Istvan, born in 1957, whom he met in 1986. Two years later Peter visited Hungary and reunited with his mother.
He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Texas 1969
Peter served in the US Army during the years of the Vietnam War.

President, Studio Arts & Frames in South Lake Tahoe 1974-1978; owner of Darvas Studio S.L.T. 1969-2012.

Peter divided his time between his 2 residences and studios in South Lake Tahoe and San Carlos, Mexico and prior to that Taos, New Mexico. He was an accomplished tennis player and an avid sailor whose maps were the stars; organizing more than 55 sailing trips to exotic locations to open our eyes and hearts to world cultures. He was a “Renaissance Man” whose interests and loves spanned the ages, the earth and the universe.

As an artist he utilized bold spontaneous strokes with a mastery of color, light and textures. Peter’s canvasses are alive with reality and expression yet never appear belabored or meticulous. He worked with watercolor, acrylics, serigraphs and was also a sculptor. You can see his 1990’s sailboat statue at the “Y”.

Later he dedicated himself to the magnificent large oil canvasses of his Southwestern artistic heritage and frequent visits to Mexico, the Caribbean Islands, South Sea Islands and the Mediterranean.

His career spanned some 60 years beginning with his first one man show at the age of 16. After that he had more than 90 major exhibitions throughout the US and abroad. Peter was fluent in English, Hungarian, Spanish and French, and German.
Devastatingly Peter suffered the complete loss of his Tahoe studio/home to fire in 2012 including hundreds of paintings and 40 years of irreplaceable personal treasures. During his residence in Lake Tahoe, Peter helped the community, donating his time and artwork to Lake Tahoe service organizations.

Peter has one surviving relative, Gitta Kertesz, a cousin, who lives in Sweden; but he leaves multitudes of friends & patrons worldwide. He was a charmer and world traveler with the unique ability to make everyone he met feel like you were his best friend. Peter will be missed by so many.

Friend of Peters
deecowan69@gmail.com