Jacques Hnizdovsky II

 

Jacques Hnizdovsky was born on January 27, 1915 in Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine, Hnizdovsky, a member of a noble family. They were forced to flee to Poland during the 1917 Russian Revolution, and thus he went on to study at both the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland and the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Croatia before immigrating to the United States in 1949, settling in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

He created illustrations for a number of books, including The Poems of John Keats (1964), Tree Trail of Central Park (1971), and Flora Exotica (1972). These illustrations are all from 'Ukranian Folk Tales', translated by Marie Halun Bloch and illustrated with woodcut prints by Jacques Hnizdovsky, published in 1964. 

Jacques Hnizdovsky I

Jacques Hnizdovsky's 1915- 1985 was aUkrainian artist whose work has an incredible order and symmetry. He worked mainly in woodcuts, but did use other mediums. 

" One day, on a train, I watched the forest approach the train, then race alongside it in an exhausting dash. I examined the order of the trees which, under the effect of movement, changed their arrangement and shape in an orderly manner. I thought to myself that if one could explore this order, one could reproduce the image of movement ."

In the summer of 1949, like thousands of Ukrainians in those post-war years scattered throughout Europe and unwilling to return to Soviet Ukraine, the artist left for the United States of America: 

" It became irrelevant to me where I live. I learned to have no more desires ."

"Freedom has no insurance policy."  

澁澤星 Sei Shibusawa

 

Paintings by Japanese artist Sei Shibusawa on paper with gold leaf. 

Tracy Mcguinness-Kelly VI

 Songs of love and hope by Tracy Mcguinness-Kelly a beauty of layering.

Esther González II

 

Pages from Esther González's diary of March last year trying to make sense of the world. 

Adam Kilian III

 

Last year Donatella Crippa visited Warsaw and photographed these incredible puppets by Adam Killian from the 1958 show “O Zwyrtale muzykancie-Zwyrtala the fiddler”, directed by Jan Wilkowski.  I have had the images saved and wanted to share them because they are just so joyous, I would love to go and see them myself at some point.

Above: woodcut for poster.

Ludvig Holberg

Above engraving by: Johann Benjamin Brühl,

'The Subterranean Voyage of Nicolas Klim' (Nicolai Klimii Iter subterraneum novam) 1741 by Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754). This book tells the story of the eponymous Niels Klim, a Norwegian academic who accidentally falls into the centre of the Earth, has various adventures there, and eventually reemerges to the surface. During his travels he spends time with  tree-people and trend-obsessed monkey-people, and sees the various civilisations that make up the Mezendorican Empire, where each job is held by a specific type of animal. I love these roaming tree people illustrations from different versions of this book. 

Nehemiah Grew

Nehemiah Grew (1641–1712) "The Father of Plant Anatomy" was the first to depict the inner structures and function of plants in incredible intricacy. ⁠

Currently I am deep in research for a book about a plantsman (nothing to do with Nehemiah Grew) and these illustrations fascinated me . . . including the smiles of stems! But the beauty and detail of the work is sublime 

Tracy Mcguinness-Kelly V

 

The beautiful kaleidoscopic micro world of TracyMcguiness-Kelly.

Beatrice Alemagna XI

 

Detail from the third and new book of 'Pascaline', named ‘ Qui des deux?’ by Beatrice Alemagna published last month in France, Germany and Spain.

Rocio Araya I

 

Rocio Araya's illustrations are delicate layers and I adore this conversation with a snail.

Kirsi Neuvonen

 

Collage using Kirsi Neuvonen's 'Deer in the rose garden'. Images and their origins/ creators are getting more fractured by the day.

David Progran

 

Today I drive away from my life for a couple of weeks or so to reset, it has been a very difficult and exhausting year so far, so I am going to stay with my oldest friend and recuperate.

I leave you with the gentle illustrations of David Progran .