SUPPORTED BY HIS FAITH

JACOB MAYDANYK - ICONOGRAPHER

In 1909-10, before immigrating to Canada, Maydanyk pursued art training at a textile design school in Rakszawa, Poland, and apprenticed under several Polish icon painters near Krakow[2]. In an interview with Halya Kuchmij, he explained:

Transcript Summary (English):

I was with a маляр [maliar/painter]. I had a good time. At first, I helped the artist. I did the sketches, and the artist painted them. There were some regular [paintings] and some church ones. We travelled to Mazurshchyna (Mazur region of northeastern Poland). I also made paintings for him - church ones and other ones to his liking. When I finished them, he paid me. The maliar was Polish. The towns [we visited] were: Bresche and Yaroslav. They served in Old Slavonic in the churches, but the people spoke Polish. One teacher was Bespriansky (sp?); he was one of the literates. The Polish were not like the people in Galicia; they [the Polish] were nicer. They were Ukrainian but assimilated with the Polish. My teacher was Vespliansky (sp?). (Kuchmij T1).

However, working as an apprentice was not his ultimate goal. He planned to study Art in Paris - but it was too expensive. Unable to pay tuition, Maydanyk decided to chase the quick riches promised in Canada to fund his dreams.

When he first settled in Manitoba, Jacob worked as a labourer, then trained as a teacher and supplemented his income cartooning for various publications. Financially, life was tough. However, as new churches were built and church congregations were willing to pay well for religious imagery, he began accepting commissions in the rural areas where he was teaching. He was asked to paint images for the many new churches appearing in the Ukrainian settlements. He explained:

“Religious paintings were just a “Job”. Most of the paintings were not original. I just copied what was needed.

I got orders from towns like Cookscreek and Brandon. Nipawa was the closest town to a German architect - a “Nimitz”[3]. The architects asked me to paint these large churches. But often, approval was not given by the bishops. Donors requested a specific painting, but the bishop/priests were arguing among themselves. So I painted Orthodox and Catholic.

I took commissions to paint the larger churches. Smaller icons were $50 - $60 each. I always thought a “big good one” would be a good idea. So I chose the “Prokrova”. It would impress people. That one could be somewhat original and impress guests, whether Catholic or Orthodox. I would spend an entire month on a large original one. I would work in my studio. Sometimes I came to install the painting, and the congregation would say they did not want it. I painted at least 12 Ukrainian and Polish churches and a chapel in the French hospital in St. Boniface. The non-Ukrainians paid better.

When asked, “Did he paint for God?” Maydanyk replied, “Not really. I painted to feed my family”.

(Kuchmij, T3 S 6)

PROVIDENCE CHURCH GOODS

Documentation of Maydanyk’s religious paintings and interior church décor is limited. Notes in Monuments to Faith: Ukrainian Churches in Manitoba by Basil Rotoff, Roman Yereniuk, and Stella Hryniuk and Ukrainian Catholic Churches of Winnipeg by Anna Maria Kowcz-Baran indicate that his earliest religious commissions coincide with his time at the Ruthenian Training School in Brandon (1912-1914), and his teaching career in rural Manitoba (1914-1919). Kowcz-Baran credits him for painting the church interior and icons for the original iconostas in St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Garland, MB - constructed in 1912 (124), and the first large icons for St. Nicholas UCC in Fisher Branch, MB (264) as well as the wall decorations for Holy Eucharist UCC in West Selkirk (272), both constructed in 1918. Maydanyk is also credited with having painted the icons, and the interior artwork of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church in Poplarfield, MB (built 1913) is also credited to Maydanyk during the same period (Rotoff, Yereniuk, Hryniuk 57). However, when cross-referencing additional sources and timelines, it appears that many churches waited several decades after they were built before they commissioned some of the larger painted pieces. Although Maydanyk was one of the few to sign his pieces, very few were dated. Before the 1920s, there do not appear to be any artist's records available to corroborate the information. It would involve a deeper examination of church board meeting minutes and financial records (if they still exist) to pinpoint the exact dates of creation and installation of any of Maydanyk’s earliest pieces.

During that same period, Jacob Maydanyk frequently communicated with Bishop Nykyta Budka about his religious art. In 1919, Bishop Budka convinced him to look for greater opportunities and move with his new wife[4] to Winnipeg (Kuchmij 1983, 17:05-17:13). Jacob first worked for a French religious goods store. Then, in 1920 he established his store – Providence Church Goods Ltd. It was originally located at 884 Main Street, then relocated several times before moving to a more permanent location at 710 Main Street adjacent to the CPR train tracks. It remained until Maydanyk retired and closed the store in 1979[5].

Providence Church Goods Ltd. was a retail outlet for church-related merchandise. The earliest advertisements appeared in Maydanyk’s self-published yearly almanacs of humour. They promote various items, including crosses, chandeliers, chalices, bells, and icons. He also repaired old and worn church items. Customers could walk in or place orders via mail-order. Many requests came as itemized lists within a personalized handwritten note[6]. Before WWII, the demand for religious artwork and painted church interiors was more than Maydanyk could handle alone. He took on several apprentices to keep up with orders and wore the hat of agent and intermediary between Ukrainian church congregations and the artists. He represented Leo Mol, Olga Moroz, and Theodore Baran, who eventually transitioned to representing themselves and became individually known for their work.

Providence Church Goods provided Maydanyk with a steady income, and as it grew, he enjoyed a large studio space above the store. It also evolved into a family business. His wife Katherine became the bookkeeper, and as his three children grew, they played a part. In 1956, Henderson’s directory listed Maydanyk’s son Eney as the company clerk and his wife Myrtle as an employee. They assisted with sales and distribution, allowing Jacob more time to illustrate and fill orders for original paintings (Ewaniuk). Between 1960-70, Eney and his family moved to Vancouver, BC, to start a Western franchise. Unfortunately, they closed the store due to a dip in the economy and waning interest in church participation. Nevertheless, Jacob Maydanyk continued to fill orders for religious paintings from as far away as Australia and Spain (Oseredok - Maydanyk Collection). Sadly, Katerine passed away in September of 1978. Jacob tried to keep up the business alone, but most churches were already established. Orders for icons were few and far between, and requests for candles and incense had trickled down to just a fraction of what they used to be. Aging and tired, he decided to shut down the business. In 1979, Jacob Maydanyk decided to close the doors to Providence Church Goods and retire from the business world.

RELIGIOUS ARTWORK

Within the Byzantine rite, religious imagery figures prominently and is an essential part of church architecture. As new churches were built and congregations could afford to embellish the decor, Maydanyk was kept busy, and his works remained in high demand well into the 1950s. His religious paintings were created in a Western European representational style, copied from Holy from others (Rotoff 128). They were most often painted on canvas[7], and the imagery conformed to traditions based on the Holy Scriptures. An interesting find in the rafters of Oseredok Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre in Winnipeg is a collection of Maydanyk’s large pencil sketches for various church paintings. They measure at least 4 feet wide x 8 feet tall, and the markings indicate that they were each used more than once, in keeping with the tradition whereby iconographers rely on set compositions that are transferred and reused, with only slight changes to lighting and colour combinations to suit a new location. Maydanyk most likely used the large sketches similarly, varying the details for each commission.

When studying Maydanyk’s religious artwork, it is important to note that he came from a village where national consciousness was already awake and stirring before he emigrated in 1911[8]. Although subtle, we can see that he was compelled to incorporate a message of Ukrainian ethnicity into his religious imagery. For example, there is embroidery on the shirt of Jesus, and the blouse of Mother Mary found on the iconostasis in St. Michael’s UCC, Olha, MB, and he added Ukrainian embroidery motifs framing the traditional Holy images on the walls of St. John the Baptist UCC, Dolyny, MB (Kowcz-Baran 191). These decorative additions, identifying his Ukrainian heritage, coincide with a growing national awareness within the Ukrainian community in the homeland and the diaspora following WWI. As an iconographer, it would appear that Maydanyk chose not only to show his fellow countrymen how to be ‘good in God’s eyes; he also subliminally promoted Ukrainian national awareness via his religious artwork.

Over 35 years, Jacob Maydanyk contributed religious imagery to at least 19 churches in Manitoba and several more in Saskatchewan (Kowcz-Baran). Unfortunately, many of the churches were renovated or, in some cases, deconsecrated. As a result, evidence of his work has slowly disappeared. Fortuitously, some historians and photographers have recorded works from the past. During the 1980s, former Winnipeg resident and photographer Zenon Stepchuk travelled the prairies in Canada and the United States, documenting the interiors of Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox churches. Included in his collection are the religious works of Jacob Maydanyk. Zenon has graciously permitted to include his images in The Maydanyk Archives Gallery - Religious Artwork and provided a link to his website, Ukrainian Churches of USA and Canada, which is managed by the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Development Centre in Toronto.

SOURCES