Mykola Anastaziyevsky

Throughout his art life, Anastaziyevsky painted with a rich and vibrant style, reflecting nature with a harmonious interplay of colours. His portraits, in particular, stand out as a distinctive feature of his work. And even from a distance, he always held Ukraine in his memory by returning to native motifs in his artworks.

Iryna Gah, artist, and art historian

Mykola Anastaziyevsky, a Ukrainian-American artist and art historian,  was born on August 14, 1891, into a family of carpenters in Skala-Podilska (Skala-nad-Zbruchem), in Ternopil region. His artistic contributions and many aspects of his biography remain relatively unknown, still deserving thorough research. As noted by scholar Iryna Gah, Mykola Anastaziievsky followed a complex and eventful path typical of many Galician artists in the first half of the 20th century: a challenging childhood, a life-changing encounter with the patron of national culture, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, which facilitated his education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and the Institute of Art and Applied Art in Warsaw, and later, forced emigration.

In Ukraine, Anastaziyevsky worked as a painter and graphic artist in the Ministry of Education of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in Kamianets-Podilskyi in 1918-1919. During this period he created one of his most famous works, “Kamianets-Podilskyi. The Stronghold (1919)”. In the interwar period, he worked as an art teacher in Polish schools as well as Ukrainian high schools and technical schools placed in Helm (1940-1944); besides teaching, Anastaziyevsky actively participated in Ukrainian cultural and artistic life, including art exhibitions in Lviv.

At the end of World War II, Mykola Anastaziyevsky found himself in Berchtesgaden, Germany, in the DP camp Orlyk. In 1950, he immigrated to the United States and settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he passed away on May 28, 1974.

Despite the hardships of life in emigration, Mykola Anastaziyevsky continued to paint, finding solace in his art, and remained an active member of Ukrainian community, which allowed him to keep a mental connection with his homeland. He held numerous exhibitions in such cities as Minneapolis, São Paulo, New York, Detroit, and Chicago. His art heritage  primarily includes graphic and painting pieces, notably portraits (“Self-Portrait” (1915) and “Portrait of Kateryna Grynevych” (1947)), still lifes, landscapes, as well as Christmas and Easter card illustrations.