Chronology

1915

Born on January 27, 1915 in Pylypcze, Borshchiv, Ternopil Oblast in Ukraine to Jakiw Gniazdowski  (h. Korab) and Martha Kubej (a Crimean/Kuban orphan). Jacques is the youngest of seven children.

1920

Jacques starts drawing as a young child, his most prized possession is his double-ended two color pencil.

1926

Attends private school (gymnasium) in Chortkiv. During his years in Chortkiv, Hnizdovsky has a roommate who was heavily involved in politics, something Hnizdovsky has no interest in. During a school search by the Polish police, Hnizdovsky's roommate, fearing impending arrest for his political activities, decides to hide all his political flyers under Jacques Hnizdovsky's mattress. Hnizdovsky is arrested and imprisoned, while his roommate goes free. The imprisonment appears to have lasted over a year and a half. Jacques Hnizdovsky is cleared of all charges, but the Chortkiv Academy refuses to allow him to return. This experience creates a distaste for all things political for the artist's entire life. 

1933

The young artist is saved from a Polish concentration camp by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky OBM, who transfers the young artist to Seminary, allowing him complete his gymnasium studies. 

1938

Graduates from Seminary in Lviv.

1938-1939

Receives a scholarship to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

1939

The German invasion of Poland forces the sudden closure of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Hnizdovsky is forced to flee by foot and by stowaway, with nothing but the clothes on his back. He settles in Zagreb, where he receives a scholarship to study at the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of Zagreb, receiving credit for the two semesters he completed in Warsaw.

1942

Graduates from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb with honors. Continues post-graduate studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb for two more years.

1944-1949

Continues painting and drawing while living in the Weyarn Displaced Persons' Camp near Munich, Germany. Awaits permission to emigrate to the Unites States. 

1949

Arrives in the United States and settles in Saint Paul, Minnesota, working as a commercial artist and textile designer for Brown & Bigelow.

1950

Receives the Purchase Award at the 1950 Minneapolis Institute of Arts Print Exhibition.

1950

Moves to New York City to establish himself as an independent fine artist.

1954

Receives American Citizenship on November 11, 1954

1956

Travels to Paris to paint the architecture of Paris.

1957

Marries a recent graduate of ESMOD (École Supérieure des Arts et Techniques de la Mode), who was working in Paris as a stylist. Her financial support allows Hnizdovsky to stay an extra year in Paris to paint.

1958

Arrives back to New York City with his new bride, settling in an apartment in the East Bronx, a far cry from the apartment they shared in Paris.

1962

Awarded the First Prize at the Boston Printmakers Annual Exhibition for his woodcut print "The Sheep".

1985

Dies of a massive cerebral hemorrhage on November 8, 1985. Is buried in the historic Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine directly across from the tomb of Ivan Franko.