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Jacques Hnizdovsky
Jacques Hnizdovsky
	Jacques Hnizdovsky carving the woodblock "Two Rams" in his studio in New York, 1969
Born	Yakiv Yakovych Hnizdovsky; January 27, 1915; Pylypche, Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine)
Died	November 8, 1985 (aged 70); New York City, New York, United States
Nationality	American
Education	Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw; Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb;
Known for	painting, printmaking, watercolor, ceramics, graphic design, bookplate design, book illustration, book cover design, lettering design
Notable work	www.hnizdovsky.com www.jacqueshnizdovsky.com
Movement	stylized realism

Jacques Hnizdovsky (1915 – 1985, born Yakiv Yakovych Hnizdovsky)^[a] was a Ukrainian-born American painter, printmaker, graphic designer, illustrator and sculptor.

Biography

Jacques Hnizdovsky was born on January 27, 1915, in Ukraine in what is now Chortkiv Raion of Ternopil Oblast in a priestly family of noble origin bearing the Korab coat of arms. He was the youngest of seven children and the only member of his family that was able to emigrate to the west.

He began his fine arts studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Germany's invasion of Poland and bombardment of Warsaw forced Jacques to flee Warsaw and continue his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. He was classically trained and had a great interest in portraiture, but Hnizdovsky was entirely self-taught in the art of printmaking.

Hnizdovsky created hundreds of paintings, pen and ink drawings and watercolors, as well as over 377 woodcuts, etchings and linocuts after his move to the United States in 1949. He was greatly inspired by woodblock printing in Japan as well as the woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer. Influences on his early works can be seen on his website.^[1]

Hnizdovsky printed all his woodcuts and linocuts himself at his home studio. Woodcuts and linocuts were printed on washi, which is erroneously translated as "rice paper"^[2]

Hnizdovsky's prints frequently depict flora and fauna, and there are several reasons for him largely shifting his focus from the human form. His first few years in the United States were marred by financial difficulties, language difficulties and a creative crisis. But what at first were merely substitutes for the human form. later became his most cherished subjects. He was well known in all the botanical and zoological gardens in New York, where he would find subjects willing to pose at no cost. At the Bronx Zoo, he found many models that were willing to pose "for peanuts". Andy, the orangutan, who opened the Ape House of the Bronx Zoo when he was just a baby, was one of Hnizdovsky's favorite models.^[3] When Andy died, the Bronx Zoo immediately purchased the Hnizdovsky woodcut in remembrance of Andy. Another favorite Bronx Zoo model was the sheep. Hnizdovsky's The Sheep would become his best known print, illustrating 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.

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, as does the University of Mount Olive in North Carolina, which presumably has the largest collection of Hnizdovsky prints worldwide.

Hnizdovsky designed numerous book covers and illustrated many books. He also designed several postage stamps and a souvenir sheet for the Ukrainian Plast postal service (issued in 1954 and 1961).

Jacques Hnizdovsky died on November 8, 1985, in Bronxville, New York, 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.^[4]

Jacques Hnizdovsky terra-cotta, 1950s
Jacques Hnizdovsky terra-cotta, 1950s
Jacques Hnizdovsky terra-cotta, 1950s
Jacques Hnizdovsky terra-cotta, 1950s
Jacques Hnizdovsky terra-cotta, 1950s
Jacques Hnizdovsky terra-cotta, 1950s
Jacques Hnizdovsky terra-cotta, 1950s
Jacques Hnizdovsky terra-cotta, 1950s
Jacques Hnizdovsky terra-cotta, 1950s
Jacques Hnizdovsky terra-cotta, 1950s

Books illustrating the work of 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.

Tahir, Abe M. Jr (1975). Hnizdovsky Woodcuts 1944-1975, a Catalogue Raissonné. Pelican Publishing Co.. ISBN 0-88289-149-9, ISBN 0-88289-072-7, ISBN 0-88289-150-2.

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 family, collectors, museums and libraries.

Publications

A partial list of books illustrated by Jacques Hnizdovsky.^[5]

The Poems of John Keats, 1964
Ukrainian Folk Tales, 1964
The Auk, the Dodo, and the Oryx, 1967
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
The Violin of Monsieur Ingres, 1983
Jacques Hnizdovsky Ex Libris, 1986
Birds and Beasts, 1990
Behind the King's Kitchen, 1992
The Girl in Glass, 2002
The Adventurous Gardener, 2005

Public collections

Among the public collections holding works by Jacques Hnizdovsky are:^[6]

Name	Location
Addison Gallery of American Art	Andover, Massachusetts
Borshchiv Regional Museum,	Borshchiv, Ukraine
Burnaby Art Gallery,	Burnaby, British Columbia
Butler Institute of American Art,	Youngstown, Ohio
Chrysler Museum	Norfolk, Virginia
Cleveland Museum of Art,	Cleveland, Ohio
Davison Art Center at Wesleyan University,	Middletown, Connecticut
Duke University Museum of Art,	Durham, North Carolina
Dulin Gallery of Art,	Knoxville, TN
Hunts Institute for Botanical Documentation	Pittsburgh PA
Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington	Seattle WA
Lauren Rogers Museum of Art	Laurel MS
Library of Congress	Washington DC
Louisiana Arts and Science Center	Baton Rouge LA
Louisiana State Museum	New Orleans LA
Minneapolis Institute of Arts	Minneapolis MN
Mississippi Museum of Art	Jackson MS
Museum of Fine Arts	Boston MA
National Collection of Fine Arts	Washington DC
National Museum of Lviv	Lviv, Ukraine
National Museum of Ukrainian Fine Arts	Kyiv, Ukraine
New Orleans Museum of Art	New Orleans LA
New York Public Library	New York NY
Philadelphia Museum of Art	Philadelphia PA
Temopil Regional Museum	Ternopil, Ukraine
Tweed Museum of Art University of Minnesota	Duluth MN
Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation	Toronto, ON
Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art	Chicago IL
The Ukrainian Museum	New York NY
The Ukrainian Museum-Archives	Cleveland, OH
University of Delaware	Newark DE
University of Minnesota	Minneapolis MN
University of Mount Olive	Mount Olive NC
United States Information Agency	Washington DC
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts	Richmond VA
The White House	Washington DC
Winnipeg Art Gallery	Winnipeg MB
Yale University	New Haven CT

Awards

Associated American Artists, 1959, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1982, 1983
Ben and Beatrice Goldstein Foundation, 1973
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1961
Boston Printmakers, 1962
Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, 1969
Henry Ward Ranger Award, National Academy of Design, 1963
International Graphic Arts Society, 1964, 1969, 1970
MacDowell Colony Fellowship, 1963, 1971, 1976
Minneapolis Institute of Art, 1950
Ossabaw Foundation, 1980
Salmagundi Club Award, Audubon Artists Annual, 1975, 1982
Tiffany Foundation Fellowship, 1961
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984
Yaddo Fellowship, 1978, 1979

In November 2022, as part of a derussification campaign, Kyiv's Magnitogorsk Street was renamed to Jacques Hnizdovsky Street.^[7]

One-Man Shows

^[8]

Associated American Artists, New York NY, 1971, 1979, 1986
Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx NY, 1971, 1981
Burnaby Art Gallery, Vancouver BC, 1985
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown OH, 1962
Chapman Gallery, Canberra, Australia. 1982
Chrysler Museum at Norfolk VA, 1967, 1968
Creuze Gallery, Paris, 1957
Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown CT 1970
Eggleston Gallery, New York NY 1954, 1958
Emilie Walter Galleries, Vancouver BC, 1973
Hermitage Museum and Gardens, Norfolk VA, 1981
International Institute of Minnesota, Saint Paul MN, 1972
Jane Haslem Gallery, Washington DC, 1982, 1984
La Maison Francaise, NYU, New York NY, 1960
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach CA, 1977
Lumley Cazalet Gallery, London, England, 1969, 1972, 1982
Lviv Museum of Ukrainian Art, Lviv, Ukraine, 1990
National Museum of Ukrainian Fine Arts, Kyiv, Ukraine, 1990
Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia PA1961
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, 1970
Roberson Center for the Arts and Sciences, Binghamton, NY, 1974
Salpeter Gallery, New York NY, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964
Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar VA, 1984
Tahir Gallery, New Orleans, 1967, 1971, 1974, 1976
Ternopil Natural History Museum, Temopil, Ukraine, 1990
Troup Gallery, Dallas TX, 1966, 1971
Tryon Fine Art Center, Tryon NC, 1974
Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation, Toronto, ON, 1983, 1985
Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago IL, 1978, 1985
University of Mount Olive, NC, 1972, 1984
University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1986
Van Straaten Gallery, Chicago IL, 1971 (currently Denver CO)
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar VA, 1979, 1981
Westwood Gallery, Westwood, MA, 1973
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg MB, 1973
Yale University, New Haven CT, 1977

Traveling One-Man Shows

Burnaby Art Gallery, Burnaby BC, 1985-1986
Fendrick Gallery, Washington DC, 1987
United States Information Service, Kyiv, 1995-1996
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond VA, 1987-1992
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg MB, 1973

Group exhibitions

Audubon Artists, 1975
Boston Printmakers, 1962
National Academy of Design, 1963, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1980
Pratt Graphic Center, 1975-1985
Society of American Graphic Artists, 1965-1985
Triennale Internazionale della Xilografia, 1972
Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan, 1983, 1985
US Information Agencies in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1968

Notes

^ Ukrainian: Яків Якович Гніздовський, romanized: Yakiv Yakovych Hnizdovskyi; Polish: Jakub Gniazdowski; Croatian: Jakiv Hnizdovskij

References

^ Reflections of an Artist Archived 2014-09-13 at the Wayback Machine
^ In fact, rice paper is made from paper mulberry, also known as broussonetia papyrifera. Please see the following link Archived 2008-09-15 at the Wayback Machine for more information on the production of this beautiful handmade paper, which is likened to raw silk because of its texture and the tiny specks of raw plant fibers embedded in the paper.
^ "Andy the orangutan". Archived from the original on 2008-09-28. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
^ Slavic and Baltic Division, NYPL
^ For a full list of American and Ukrainian books illustrated by Jacques Hnizdovsky, please contact the Slavic and Baltic Division of the New York Public Library, which houses the entire collection.
^ Jacques Hnizdovsky Яків Гніздовський published by the Ukrainian Museum on the occasion of the exhibition Jacques Hnizdovsky 1915-1985, Retrospective Exhibition December 10, 1995 - March 3, 1996
^ "Kyiv, another 11 streets were derusified, Kateryna Gandzuk was immortalized". Ukrayinska Pravda (in Ukrainian). 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
^ Jacques Hnizdovsky Яків Гніздовський published by the Ukrainian Museum on the occasion of the exhibition Jacques Hnizdovsky 1915-1985, Retrospective Exhibition December 10, 1995 - March 3, 1996