Jacques Hnizdovsky
Jacques Hnizdovsky (1915 – 1985, born Yakiv Yakovych Hnizdovsky) was a Ukrainian-born American painter, printmaker, graphic designer, illustrator and sculptor.
Also recorded as Yakiv Hnizdovsky · Iakiv Hnizdovsky · Yakiv Yakovych Hnizdovskyi
Jacques Hnizdovsky

Artist's estate · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Jacques Hnizdovsky
- Birth Name
- Yakiv Yakovych Hnizdovsky
- Born
- 27 January 1915
- Birthplace
- Pylypche, Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine)
- Died
- 8 November 1985
- Place of death
- New York City, New York, United States
- Field
- painting, printmaking, watercolor, ceramics, graphic design, bookplate design, book illustration, book cover design, lettering design
- Training
- * Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw
- Movement
- stylized realism
- Nationality
- Austria–Hungary, United States and Poland.
- Occupation
- art historian, painter, etcher, postage stamp designer, sculptor, graphic artist, ceramicist and illustrator.
- Movements
- French Realism.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Jacques Hnizdovsky (1915 – 1985, born Yakiv Yakovych Hnizdovsky) was a Ukrainian-born American painter, printmaker, graphic designer, illustrator and sculptor.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Jacques Hnizdovsky. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q2388812 · wikipedia · Jacques Hnizdovsky
In this article
Biography
Biography
Hnizdovsky worked between 1915 and 1985 across art historian, painter, etcher, postage stamp designer and sculptor and 3 further recorded occupations. This article rests on 12 published texts and 2 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Jacques Hnizdovsky • Birth Name — Yakiv Yakovych Hnizdovsky • Born — 27 January 1915 • Birthplace — Pylypche, Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine) • Died — 8 November 1985 • Place of death — New York City, New York, United States • Field — painting, printmaking, watercolor, ceramics, graphic design, bookplate design, book illustration, book cover design, lettering design • Training — * Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw • Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb • Movement — stylized realism • Works — www.hnizdovsky.com www.jacqueshnizdovsky.com
Biography
Biography
• Illustration — Young Hnizdovsky in the 1930s • Illustration — Hnizdovsky with his painting "Displaced Persons", 1948, now in the Ukrainian Museum, New York • Illustration — Hnizdovsky painting at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire in the early 60s • Illustration — Hnizdovsky (right) with Lubomyr Hutsaliuk (left) and Edward Kozak in Soyuzivka 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. 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" 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. 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.
One-Man Shows
One-Man Shows
Source: • 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
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
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
Life and work
Life and work
Jacques Hnizdovsky was born on 27 January 1915 in Pylypche. Hnizdovsky held the nationality of Austria–Hungary, United States and Poland. Hnizdovsky was educated at Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, University of Zagreb and Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb. Hnizdovsky worked as art historian, painter, etcher and postage stamp designer, and the authority record catalogues a further 4 occupations under the same name, among them sculptor, graphic artist, ceramicist and illustrator. Hnizdovsky worked in Polish and Ukrainian. Hnizdovsky is placed by the collections within French Realism. Hnizdovsky died on 8 November 1985 in New York City. Hnizdovsky is buried at Lychakiv Cemetery.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1915–1985
The full dated record · 4 entries
1915
Jacques Hnizdovsky born at Pylypche.
1985
Dies at New York City.
1985
Jacques Hnizdovsky died at New York City.
1985
Jacques Hnizdovsky 1985 (1985) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
Books illustrating the work of Hnizdovsky
Books illustrating the work of Hnizdovsky
• Tahir, Abe M. Jr (1987). Jacques Hnizdovsky Woodcuts and Etchings. Pelican Publishing Co.. • 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..,. • 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
Publications
• Illustration — Hnizdovsky carving an ex libris (bookplate) A partial list of books illustrated by Jacques Hnizdovsky. • 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
Writings and published texts
Catalogued output
Writings and published texts
These are catalogued publications carrying the name — editions and printings, distinct from the works they contain and from writing about the subject. The 1990s are the densest part of the run, with 4 titles, and that concentration is a fact about what the registers have catalogued rather than a judgement on the work itself.
I︠A︡kiv Hnizdovsʹkyĭ
1967
Jacques Hnizdovsky woodcuts and etchings
1987
12 editions carry dates between 1949 and 1996
The run opens with Zvidomlenni͡a Zluchenoho ukraïnsʹkoho amerykansʹkoho dopomohovoho komitetu z dii͡alʹnosti v zakhidniĭ Evropi za 1948 rik and closes with Zebra (Hnizdovsky's Animals)
The entries follow Open Library
Zvidomlenni͡a Zluchenoho ukraïnsʹkoho amerykansʹkoho dopomohovoho komitetu z dii͡alʹnosti v zakhidniĭ Evropi za 1948 rik
1949
Kataloh pershoï mystetsʹkoï vystavy
1952
A Green place: Modern poems
1982
Ex libris
1986
Public collections
Among the public collections holding works by Jacques Hnizdovsky are: • 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.
Authority records
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Reflections of an Artist
- 2.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 its texture and the tiny specks of raw plant fibers embedded in the paper.
- 3.Andy the orangutan.
- 4.Slavic and Baltic Division, NYPL
- 5.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.
- 6.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
- 7.Kyiv, another 11 streets were derusified, Kateryna Gandzuk was immortalized. Ukrayinska Pravda. 10 November 2022.
- 8.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
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
- Leshko, Jaroslaw (1995). Jacques Hnizdovsky Яків Гніздовський.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Jacques Hnizdovsky studied at Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, University of Zagreb and Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb. Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style.
The authorities additionally record the headings Yakiv Hnizdovsky, Iakiv Hnizdovsky and Yakiv Yakovych Hnizdovskyi. His recorded languages were Polish and Ukrainian. Hnizdovsky worked in painting, graphics, ceramic and art history. His work is associated with French Realism. Recorded as art historian, painter, etcher and postage stamp designer.
Identity and origins
Career and activity
Recognition and collections
Work by Jacques Hnizdovsky is
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Picker Art Gallery and Print Collection
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Ceramics
1,104 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Jack LairdArtist
- Jacob ChemlaArtist
- Jacobo de la SernaArtist
- Jacopo NaniArtist
- Jade Snow WongArtist
- Jafet TorelliArtist
- Jais NielsenArtist
- James C. WatkinsArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Jacques Hnizdovsky?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.