Jacques Hnizdovsky

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Jacques Hnizdovsky

Jacques Hnizdovsky carving the woodblock "Two Rams" in his studio in New York, 1969
Birth name Jakiw Hnizdowskyj
Born January 27, 1915 (1915-01-27)
Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine
Died November 8, 1985 (1985-11-09)
New York, USA
Nationality American
Field painting, printmaking, watercolor, ceramics, graphic design, bookplate design, book illustrations and cover design, font design
Training Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw; Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb
Movement stylized realism
Works see www.hnizdovsky.com

Jacques Hnizdovsky (Ukrainian: Яків Гніздовський, Polish: Jakob Gniazdowski, Croatian: Jakiv Hnizdovskij), (1915–1985) was a Ukrainian-American painter, printmaker, sculptor, ex libris designer, book illustrator, and art historian.

Biography

Jacques Hnizdovsky was born in Ukraine in the Borshchivskyi Raion of Ternopil Oblast to direct descendants of a noble family bearing the Korab coat of arms. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and Zagreb, and produced hundreds of paintings, as well as over 300 prints (woodcuts, etchings and linocuts) after his move to the United States in 1949. He was inspired by woodblock printing in Japan as well as the woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer. These influences on his early works can be seen on his website.[1][2] Most of his woodcuts, (apart from exhibition posters, which he also printed himself directly from the woodblock) were printed on washi, which in English is erroneously translated into "rice paper"[3]

Hnizdovsky's woodcuts frequently depict plants and animals, and the primary reason for this, in the beginning, after his arrival in the United States, was the lack of funds to pay for a human model. But what was first a substitute for the human form later became his primary subject matter. He was well known in all the botanical gardens in New York, where he would find subjects willing to pose for no cost. At the Bronx Zoo, he also found many models that were willing to pose, as he would write, "for peanuts". Andy, the orangutan that opened the Ape House of the Bronx Zoo when he was just a baby, was one of Hnizdovsky's favorite models.[4] When he died, the Bronx Zoo immediately purchased the woodcut in remembrance of Andy. Another favorite model for one of Hnizdovsky's best known prints, was also from the Bronx Zoo. The Sheep went on to be the print Hnizdovsky was best known for, and it illustrated the poster for his very successful exhibition at the Lumley Cazalet Gallery in London. This poster, incidentally, can be seen in the kitchen scene of the film The Hours.

The artist also designed several stamps and a souvenir sheet for the Ukrainian Plast postal service, issued in 1954 and 1961.

Hnizdovsky has exhibited widely and his works are in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has a large collection of his prints.

An interview with Hnizdovsky, in Ukrainian, was conducted in 1982 was conducted by Ulana Pawuszczak Interview with Yakiv (Jacques) Hnizdovsky (Яків Гніздовський).

Jacques Hnizdovsky died in 1985 and is buried at the Lychakivskiy Cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine. His archives are housed at the Slavic and Baltic Division of the New York Public Library.[5]

Books illustrating the work of Jacques Hnizdovsky

  • Tahir, Abe M. Jr (1987). Jacques Hnizdovsky Woodcuts and Etchings. Pelican Publishing Co. ISBN 0-88289-487-0.
Shows all prints created during the artist's lifetime, a catalogue raisonné, profusely illustrated with images.
Shows prints created between 1944-1975, a catalogue raisonné, profusely illustrated with images.
  • Hnizdovsky, Jacques (1986). Jacques Hnizdovsky Ex Libris. S. Hnizdovsky. ASIN B0007BYZ94
Shows 54 Ex Libris designs that the artist created for friends, family, museums and libraries.

Publications

This is a partial list of books illustrated by Jacques Hnizdovsky.[6]

  • The Poems of John Keats, 1964
  • The Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1967
  • Tree Trails of Central Park, 1971
  • Flora Exotica, 1972
  • The Poems of Thomas Hardy, 1979
  • The Traveler’s Tree, 1980
  • The Poetry of Robert Frost, 1981
  • Signum Et Verbum, 1981
  • A Green Place, 1982
  • Birds and Beasts, 1990
  • Behind the King’s Kitchen, 1992
  • The Girl in Glass, 2002
  • The Adventurous Gardener, 2005

References

  1. ↑ Reflections web page
  2. ↑ Woodcuts web page
  3. ↑ In fact, rice paper is made from paper mulberry, also known as broussonetia papyrifera. Please see the following link for more information on the production of this beautiful handmade paper, which is likened to raw silk because of the raw mulberry fibers frequently embedded in the paper. This handmade quality and texture is a beauty to behold.
  4. ↑ Andy the orangutan
  5. ↑ Slavic and Baltic Division, NYPL
  6. ↑ For a full list of Ukrainian books illustrated by Jacques Hnizdovsky, please contact the Slavic and Baltic Division of the New York Public Library, which houses the entire collection.

Further reading

  • Leshko, Jaroslaw (1995). Jacques Hnizdovsky Яків Гніздовський.
Published by The Ukrainian Museum on the occasion of the exhibition Jacques Hnizdovsky 1915-1985: Retrospective Exhibition, organized by The Ukrainian Museum, New York. Profusely illustrated bilingual exhibition catalogue containing 23 pages of biographical text, showing examples of paintings, woodcuts, linocuts, etchings and ceramics by the artist.

External links

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