14 Facts About Jacques Hnizdovsky

Jacques Hnizdovsky was a Ukrainian-born American painter, printmaker, graphic designer, illustrator and sculptor.

Jacques Hnizdovsky was born on January 27,1915, in Ukraine in what is Chortkiv Raion of Ternopil Oblast in a priestly family of noble origin bearing the Korab coat of arms.

Jacques Hnizdovsky was the youngest of seven children and the only member of his family that was able to emigrate to the west.

Jacques Hnizdovsky 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.

Jacques Hnizdovsky was classically trained and had a great interest in portraiture, but Hnizdovsky was entirely self-taught in the art of printmaking.

Jacques 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.

Jacques Hnizdovsky was greatly inspired by woodblock printing in Japan as well as the woodcuts of Albrecht Durer.

Jacques Hnizdovsky printed all his woodcuts and linocuts himself at his home studio.

Jacques Hnizdovsky was well known in all the botanical and zoological gardens in New York, where he would find subjects willing to pose at no cost.

Jacques Hnizdovsky has exhibited widely and his works are in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide.

Jacques Hnizdovsky designed several postage stamps and a souvenir sheet for the Ukrainian Plast postal service.

Jacques Hnizdovsky died on November 8,1985, in Bronxville, New York, and is buried at the Lychakivskiy Cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine.

Jacques Hnizdovsky's archives are housed at the Slavic and Baltic Division of the New York Public Library.