Cat nap woodcut, 1979
Jacques Hnizdovsky (1915-1985) was a Ukrainian-American painter, printmaker, sculptor, and book illustrator.
After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and Zagreb, and struggling to find his path
as an artist in postwar Europe, he moved to the United States in 1949. At first he settled in Saint Paul,
Minnesota, where he found work as a designer. But a year later, when two of his artworks
received awards at a Minneapolis Institute of Art print exhibition and the Minnesota State Fair,
Hnizdovsky quit his job and headed to New York, decided to make a living as an independent artist.
Fish vase and Deer plate, 1950s
Pigeons linocut, 1952
The first years in New York were very difficult, both artistically and financially.
Hnizdovsky soon finished his small savings, and had to move into an unheated apartment in the East Bronx
where, having lost all self-confidence, he experimented with different media and styles
with no satisfactory result. Then, "after several years of hopeless work, I began to find my way.
I found it in my own room, in my corridor, on my sidewalk, and in the blade of grass growing
between two blocks of concrete in front of the house I lived in. Everywhere I went,
things became clearer and more visible to me. I had an insurmountable desire to paint it all.
No longer was I concerned how to paint. The question of how, which for years was so important
to me, suddenly became secondary."
Turtle woodcut, 1962
Caged eagle woodcut, 1964
The academically trained Hnizdovsky was very interested in the human figure,
but in New York his isolation and lack of funds for a human model led him to find
new subjects in the city's botanical gardens and at the Bronx Zoo. Gradually,
in the quiet atmosphere of these places, he discovered the beauty of plants and animals
and fell in love with them.
Andy from the Bronx Zoo woodcut, 1965
Andy, the orangutan living in the zoo's Ape House, was one of Hnizdovsky's
favorite models. When Andy died, the Bronx Zoo purchased this woodcut
in remembrance of him.
Ram etching, 1979
Herd of sheep woodcut, 1979
Resting sheep linocut, 1983
Sheep and rams were another favorite model from the Zoo, and became one of his most popular subjects.
Jacobin pigeon linocut, 1973
Llama woodcut, 1972
Jerome woodcut, 1978
Hnizdovsky's carefully patterned and beautifully stylized woodcuts drew inspiration
from the work of Albrecht Dürer, Ukrainian folk art, and Japanese woodblock artists.
He produced over 375 prints, mostly woodcuts and linocuts, as well as paintings, ceramics,
ex libris and illustrated books. His works have been exhibited internationally and are
in the permanent collections of numerous museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
Woodcuts and Etchings was published, including all of his woodcuts, linocuts and etchings.
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