Jacques Hnizdovsky
"Sleeping Duck"
1968
Woodcut
Edition 95/175
Signed, titled, dated and
numbered beneath image
Condition: Clean, crisp paper with full margins and a sharp clear image.
Paper size: 6.5 x 10 in
Catalogue raisonne: Tahir 81
Jacques Hnizdovsky was born in Ukraine in 1915 and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and Zagreb. After he moved to the United States in 1949 Hnizdovsky would go on to produce hundreds of paintings, pen and ink drawings and watercolors as well as over 375 prints. He was inspired by Japanese woodblock printing and the woodcuts of Albercht Durer. Early in his career Hnizdovsky could not afford to hire human models so much of his work depicted plants and animals, and what started as a necessity soon became a primary subject. While living in New York City he often visited the botanical gardens and the Bronx Zoo where he found subjects who would pose for free. Hnizdovsky's work has been exhibited around the world and can be found in many permanent collections and galleries such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Slavic and Baltic Division of the New York Public Library. He died in 1985 and is buried in Lviv, Ukraine.