Jacques Hnizdovsky at the opening of his exhibition at Galerie Greuse. Paris. 1957. "File: Hnizdovsky Paris Exhibition.jpg" by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
He was an artist who could create for two worlds, figuratively speaking, of course: for the ethnically Ukrainian and non-Ukrainian communities. The reason for this phenomenon is simple: he acquired high professionalism through persistent studies in Krakow, Zagreb, and Munich. He is characterized by outstanding diligence and a desire to achieve the goal of perfection.
Oksana Romaniv-Triska, art critic
Jacques Hnizdovsky was a Ukrainian-American artist, ceramist, and art critic renowned worldwide for his unique ornamental woodcuts featuring floral and zoological motifs.
He was born on January 27, 1915, in the village of Pylypche (now Ternopil region) in the family of a deacon. He studied at the Lviv Theological Seminary. In the 1930s, with the assistance of the Ukrainian artist and publisher Edward Kozak, he worked in Lviv designing illustrations for “Novyi Chas” (New Time) and “Komar” (Mosquito) magazines. Hnizdovsky’s talent was highly appreciated by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, who granted him a scholarship to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Hnizdovsky later continued to pursue his art education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, although World War II prevented him from completing his studies.
In the late 1940s, the artist spent years in displaced persons (DP) camps in Germany. This was where he worked on editions of the Artistic Ukrainian Movement, illustrated such Ukrainian periodicals as “Arka” (Arch) and “Hran” (Edge), as well as created Ex Libris and depicted the everyday life of Ukrainian refugees in postwar Germany.
In 1949, Hnizdovsky emigrated to the United States. Initially, he settled in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he worked as a designer for the advertising company “Brown and Bigelow”. In 1950, he made his debut at a graphic arts exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, where his woodcut “Bush” was awarded second prize. The same year, the artist moved to New York.
In 1956, he visited France, where he spent almost two years and held three solo exhibitions. In Paris, he married Stefania Kuzan, the daughter of Ukrainian emigrants. From that time, he began signing his works in the French style as Jacques Hnizdovsky.
Upon returning to New York in 1958, Hnizdovsky actively participated in group exhibitions and numerous solo shows. His works were exhibited in the United States, Japan, Latin American countries, and across Europe, earning him international recognition. His woodcuts became the subject of the documentary film “Sheep in Wood” (directed by Slavko Nowytski, 1970), which won an award at the New York Film Festival.
Hnizdovsky was also an author of many cultural and art-related articles, as well as a contributor to the magazine “Notatky z mystetstva” (Notes on Art), published by the Ukrainian Artists’ Association in the USA. In 1967, his reflections and observations were published in a separate book titled “The Awakened Princess”. In 1975, the most comprehensive album of his works, “Jr. Hnizdovsky Woodcuts 1944–1975,” was released.
The artist passed away on November 8, 1985, in New York and was buried in the Columbarium of St. John the Divine Cathedral, Manhattan. On November 5, 2005, his ashes were reinterred at Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv.
The works of Jacques Hnizdovsky are preserved in leading Ukrainian and international museums and private collections. His artistic legacy is carefully preserved by his family — wife Stefania and daughter Mira Hnizdovsky, who reside in the United States.
