Gary Barefoot, curator in UMO’s Moye Library, holds an oil painting completed by Ukranian artist Jacques Hnizdovsky in 1979. The painting, titled ‘Antonetta,’ was recently donated to the library by the artist’s family.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
‘Flock of Lambs’ is one of numerous sheep-themed prints by Jacques Hnizdovsky.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
This print, titled ‘Lambs,’ shows Jacques Hnizdovsky’s ability to portray the same subject matter in two very different ways. (Compare with “Flock of Lambs.”)(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
In addition to owning a print of ‘Tiger,’ UMO’s Moye Library also owns the woodblock used by Jacques Hnizdovsky to make the print.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Among the works of art by Jacques Hnizdovsky displayed in Moye Library, is a trial proof of a self-portrait, completed in 1971.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
This trial proof of Hnizdovsky’s ‘Zebra’ woodcut would have been “pulled” by the artist when he was still striving to perfect the image.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
While many of Jacques Hnizdovsky’s prints are in black and white, ‘Japanese Chrysanthenum’ (recently donated to UMO by the artist’s family) shows an interesting use of color.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Whether it’s the subject itself, or Jacques Hnizdovsky’s depiction of the subject, ‘Barbary Sheep’ comes across as playful, almost comical.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
This close-up of a portion of Hnizdovsky’s woodcut titled ‘Field’ shows the intricate detail representative of many of his works.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
It’s worth a special visit to the second floor of UMO’s Moye Library to see the many displayed works of art by Ukranian-American artist Jacques Hnizdovsky.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Ukranian-American artist Jacques Hnizdovsky provided artwork for several books of poetry.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Jacques Hnizdovsky visited what was then Mount Olive College on Nov. 1, 1984 and demonstrated hand-pulling a woodcut of a cabbage. That print hangs in Moye Library today; this is a notecard showing the print.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
In the summer of 1969, Hnizdovsky showed 29 woodcuts at Lumley Cazalet Gallery in London. This pamphlet features yet another of his beloved sheep.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Two hundred nineteen woodcuts and linocuts by Jacques Hnizdovsky, from 1944-1975, were catalogued by Abe M. Tahir, Jr. Fittingly, sheep are depicted on the cover.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
How often do we travel to see something great, only to miss what’s in our own backyard?
Take art, for example. North Carolina is home to a long list of wonderful galleries — in Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Winston-Salem and elsewhere — but if you want to see some truly masterful works of art, why not start at University of Mount Olive’s Moye Library?
The library doesn’t, of course, compete with art museums when it comes to representing large numbers of artists, but when it comes to one artist in particular, Jacques Hnizdovsky, it rivals museums throughout the world.
Hnizdovsky (it’s pronounced the way it’s spelled, but with the “H” silent: niz-dov-sky) was born in Ukraine in 1915, studied art in Europe, and moved to the United States in 1949. He died in New York of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1985. His talents were not confined to one medium — he painted (both oil and watercolor), did pen and ink drawings, and sculpted— but he was most famous for his woodcuts, linocuts and etchings.
Gary Barefoot, curator of the Free Will Baptist Historical Collection and the University Archives in Moye Library, estimates the university owns approximately 115 Hnizdovsky, works — mostly in the woodcut and linocut genre for which he is best known — making the university one of the largest holders of his work. Approximately 75 pieces are currently on display, mostly on the second floor of the library, although there are a few on the first floor and in campus offices, as well. The remainder are in storage.
Barefoot points out that, oftentimes, woodcuts lack a certain sharpness or definition. Hnizdovsky’s “are the exact opposite,” he says. “When you see some of them, you’d think, how in the world did he do this? It looks like a pen and ink drawing rather than a woodcut. That’s one of the things that is distinctive, for me, about his work is that it is so intricate and detailed.”
To truly appreciate Hnizdovsky’s woodcuts, it helps to have a general understanding of his process. He first drew the design on paper, then transferred the drawing to a woodblock (his preference was pear wood), and then carved the design into the wood using u-shaped and v-shaped blades. After carving the design, he inked the raised area (the part that wasn’t carved away) and transferred the resulting image to paper (his favorite being a traditional Japanese paper, called washi). This description makes the process sound fairly simple and straightforward, when it was anything but: each step along the way — from creating the initial drawing to the initial inking—Hnizdovsky continually tweaked and refined his design. Often, one single work took weeks or months to complete. (The same process was used for linocuts, except rather than starting with a block of wood, he started with a block of linoleum.)
Hnizdovsky’s style is realistic — in that you can definitely tell if you’re looking at a cat or a zebra or a tree — but it’s also highly individualized. Some prints are impossibly complex; others are quite comical or playful. Many of his woodcut and linocut prints are in black and white, although some are in color. His favorite subjects were plants and animals (and among his favorite animals were sheep).
Today, Hnizdovsky’s works are found in the permanent collections of many notable institutions, including: Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Yale University Art Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
So, how did UMO come to possess such an enviable collection?
Barefoot explains that UMO alumnus Dr. Edward Lee Glover, who graduated from what was then Mount Olive Junior College in 1959, was responsible for starting the collection. Following his graduation from Mount Olive, Glover went on to earn his bachelor’s degree from Atlantic Christian College (now Barton) and then landed at University of Maryland to pursue his graduate studies. It was during this time that he began working part-time at a gallery that represented Hznizdovsky. “This was about the time Hnizdovsky was becoming somewhat famous,” Barefoot says, noting that both Glover and one of Glover’s professors, Mel Reuber, started buying the artist’s work.
Glover began giving some of his collection to the library in 1971, Barefoot says, and Reuber later followed suit, donating some of his collection, as well. After Reuber’s death, the rest of his collection came to the university in 2007.
Over the years, Hnizdovsky’s widow, Stephanie, and daughter, Mira, have also donated pieces. “They have given us some very nice things,” Barefoot says. In fact, they recently donated several woodblocks Hnizdovsky used for some of his printmaking, as well as a number of oil paintings. One painting, done in 1979 and titled “Antonetta” is particularly striking. The recent acquisitions are not currently on display, but are expected to be displayed from time to time in the future.
Hnizdovsky illustrated a number of books with his woodcut prints, including volumes of poetry by John Keats, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Frost and William Jay Smith, and while the university has been fortunate in receiving donations of his artwork, Barefoot notes that the library actively sought out the books. “We have sought and tried to buy every book that we could get that has his illustrations in it, and I would say we’re pretty complete on that,” he says. The books are in the main collection, but they’re catalogued in such a way that if Hnizdovsky is mentioned in the bibliographic information and his name is searched in the online catalogue, these books will pop up. “We have some of the original prints that were used in the books,” Barefoot adds.
Hnizdovsky actually gave a lecture at UMO on Nov. 1, 1984, bringing with him a woodblock of a cabbage that he had carved in 1964 and demonstrating his technique by making a print of the cabbage that day. He signed it “pulled by hand at Mt. Olive College,” and it remains on display in the libaray.
To view Hnizdovsky’s work, visit Moye Library on UMO’s campus, at 644 James B. Hunt Drive. Entrance to the library is free and open to the public. Library hours are: Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 p.m.-10-p.m. The library is closed on Saturdays.
