Jacques Hnizdovsky was born in Ukraine in 1915 and studied art in Warsaw and Zagreb. He had an early interest in the woodcut, particularly those of Dürer and the Japanese.Shortly after he arrived in this country in 1949, A. Hyatt Mayor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art chose one of his woodcuts for a Purchase Award at a 1950 Minneapolis Institute of Art print exhibition. It was a turning point in his career and his life. From that moment he was determined to make his livelihood as an artist.
In 1962 he was awarded First Prize at the Boston Printmakers annual exhibition for his print “The Sheep”. He was invited to participate in the Contemporary U.S. Graphic Arts exhibition which traveled to the U.S.S.R. in 1963, as well as a similar exhibition to Japan in 1967. His woodcuts were included in the Triennale Internazionale della Xilographica in Italy in 1972.
In 1977 shows of his woodcuts were held at the Long Beach Art Museum, California, and Yale University, and in 1978 and 1982 at the University of Virginia and at the Hermitage Museum of Norfolk, Virginia, in 1981.
He received a Tiffany Fellowship in 1961, and fellowships from the following: MacDowell Colony in 1963, 1971, 1976, 1977; Yaddo Foundation in 1978; Ossabaw Foundation in 1980; Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1984.
In 1975 a catalogue raisonné of his woodcuts Hnizdovsky Woodcuts 1944 - 1975 was published by Pelican Publishing Company of Gretna, Louisiana. In 1987 an updated version Jacques Hnizdovsky Woodcuts and Etchings was published, including all woodcuts, linocuts and etchings made during his lifetime.
Hnizdovsky has contributed illustrations to 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 in 2002; and The Adventurous Gardener in 2005.
He received a Tiffany Fellowship in 1961, and fellowships from the following: MacDowell Colony in 1963, 1971, 1976, 1977; Yaddo Foundation in 1978; Ossabaw Foundation in 1980; Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1984.
In 1975 a catalogue raisonné of his woodcuts Hnizdovsky Woodcuts 1944 - 1975 was published by Pelican Publishing Company of Gretna, Louisiana. In 1987 an updated version Jacques Hnizdovsky Woodcuts and Etchings was published, including all woodcuts, linocuts and etchings made during his lifetime.
Hnizdovsky has contributed illustrations to 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 in 2002; and The Adventurous Gardener in 2005.
Among the numerous permanent collections with woodcuts by Hnizdovsky are: The Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA; Burnaby Art Gallery, British Columbia; Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH; Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, VA; Cleveland Museum of Fine Arts; Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University; Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, NC; Dulin Gallery of Art, Knoxville, TN; Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Pittsburgh; Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle; Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, MS; Louisiana Arts and Science Center, Baton Rouge; Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; New Orleans Museum of Art; New York Public Library; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota; The U.S. Information Agency, Washington, DC; Library of Congress and White House, Washington, DC; University of Delaware; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; Winnipeg Art Gallery and Yale University.
Jacques Hnizdovsky died on November 8, 1985 in New York.
Jacques Hnizdovsky died on November 8, 1985 in New York.
