From Avant-Garde to Sacred Art
For Sviatoslav Hordynskyi theory wasn’t an afterthought, it was the starting point. Whether working in poetry, painting, or cathedral decoration, he approached each discipline through a lens of critical reflection.
While his painting and art criticism remain the domain of historians, Hordynskyi’s graphic works feel strikingly modern. It continues to resonate with a new generation of Ukrainian designers, offering an expressive visual language. I found myself drawn to his letterforms. There are a tension, structure, and rhythm, which eventually became the foundation for the Hordyi display font.
Sviatoslav Hordynskyi was born in 1906 in Kolomyia, Ukraine. He grew up in an intellectually engaged environment. His father was an educator, literary scholar and translator. He was a professor at the Academic Gymnasium in Lviv, which Sviatoslav later completed as an external student.
Self-portrait with sculpture. 1924
When Sviatoslav Hordynskyi was eighteen, he entered the art school of Oleksa Novakivskyi, where he studied for three years before continuing his education abroad. He later enrolled at the Berlin Academy of Arts and went on to receive a double scholarship from Andrey Sheptytsky to study in Paris. Sheptytsky recognized not only Hordynskyi’s talent, but also his strong artistic commitment to Ukraine and a clear intention to return after his studies abroad.
Advertising poster for pasta called "Pâtes la Lune"
In Paris, Hordynskyi became fascinated with the ideas of the avant-garde. His visual language shifted towards clarity and structure of simple rational forms. The principles of the avant-garde spread throughout his graphic practice, from book covers and illustrations to theatrical costume sketches.
Illustration “Motorist”. 1929
Sviatoslav Hordynskyi returned from Paris not only with new artistic ideas, but also with a clear vision: to build a supportive artistic environment in Lviv. In 1931, this vision took shape in the founding of the Association of Independent Ukrainian Artists (ANUM).
The first ANUM exhibition was held at the National Museum in Lviv and featured works by leading European artists such as Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, and Amedeo Modigliani. Alongside them, Ukrainian artists of the “Paris Group” were also represented.
The cover of the Almanac of Left-Wing Art. Lviv. 1931
The cover of the catalog of the First Exhibition of the Association of Independent Ukrainian Artists (ANUM). Lviv. 1931
While in Paris, Hordynskyi noticed how isolated Ukrainian artists were in a foreign cultural environment. Through the ANUM exhibitions, he sought to place Ukrainian and European artists in a common artistic context. This would help to compare, analyze, and identify parallels in their development.
Sviatoslav Hordynskyi's early involvement in art history began during his student years. During his career, he wrote about 250 articles on art history and published 13 monographs on Ukrainian artists. Along with his critical work, he also wrote poetry, published his own works, and worked extensively as a translator from Latin, Italian, German, French, English, and Polish.
Photo from the opening of the exhibition of the Association of Independent Ukrainian Artists (ANUM) at the National Museum in Lviv.
In 1944, Hordynskyi migrated with his wife and two daughters to Germany, and later to the United States, where he spent the rest of his life.
California. 1960
A significant part of his later career was devoted to sacred art. The needs of the Ukrainian diaspora shaped this direction: communities needed professional artistic decoration of churches and cathedrals, and Hordynskyi became one of the leading figures in this field. His knowledge, experience, and research into Byzantine and Old Russian iconography allowed him to develop as an outstanding icon painter and monumental artist.
Part of the cathedral painting. 1970s
Sviatoslav Hordynskyi decorated about 50 churches in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. He worked on the St. Sophia Cathedral in Rome, creating icons, ceiling paintings, mosaics, and stained glass. His theoretical research culminated in the book "Ukrainian Icon of the 12th–18th Centuries."
He continued to write, publish, and organize exhibitions of Ukrainian artists, and founded the Association of Ukrainian Artists in America. The preservation of Ukrainian cultural heritage remained central to his work.
The cover of an art publication dedicated to the work of three Ukrainian sculptors. Munich. 1947.
Hordynskyi bequeathed his art collection to the National Museum in Lviv. He passed away in 1993 at the age of 87.
Finally, I invite you to watch a video about Sviatoslav Hordynskyi in Ukrainian on YouTube.
Source: monograph ''Svyatoslav Hordynskyi. Creativity for half a century’’ (2019) written by Khrystyna Berehovska.