Kholodny, Petro P.

Kholodny, Petro P. [Xolodnyjж Холодний, Петро (молодший)], b 22 July 1902 in Kyiv, d 24 January 1990 in Glen Spey, New York State. Painter and graphic artist, son of Petro Kholodny; husband of Nataliia Livytska-Kholodna. Having left Ukraine in 1920, he studied art at the Ukrainian Studio of Plastic Arts in Prague (1926–7) and the Warsaw Academy of Arts (1928–34), where, following his research tours of Italy and France, he taught drawing and tempera. As a member of the Spokii group of Ukrainian artists in Warsaw and of the Association of Independent Ukrainian Artists in Lviv, he took part in numerous exhibitions in Lviv and other European cities. After the Second World War he lived and worked in various displaced persons camps in Germany. In 1950 he immigrated to the United States, where he became a member of the Ukrainian Artists' Association in the USA.

Kholodny’s main works are monumental—icons, stained-glass windows, and mosaics—and are done in a Neo-Byzantine style. They include the iconostasis and mosaics of Saint Andrew’s Church in Bound Brook, New Jersey; the stained-glass windows and mosaics of Saint John the Baptist’s Church in Newark, New Jersey; the icons of the Ukrainian churches in Hunter and Glen Spey, New York State, and Trenton, New Jersey; the stained-glass windows of Saint George’s Church in New York; and the iconostasis of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Lourdes, France. A versatile artist, Kholodny is also known for his landscapes and figural compositions such as his paintings of beetles. His work was influenced by modern trends, particularly by cubism and constructivism. Thus it is closely related to Mykhailo Boichuk’s school. In his search for maximal simplicity of form, Kholodny combines the flatness and colors of the Byzantine tradition with elements of modern painting. In graphic arts he has proved himself as an illustrator (for many years he illustrated the children’s monthly Veselka) ) and as a bookplate, logo, and monogram designer. His work is distinguished by its elegant, light line. One-man exhibitions of his work were held in New York, Philadelphia (1973 and 1977), and Chicago (1977), and a New York retrospective exhibition was held on his 80th birthday in 1982.

Sviatoslav Hordynsky

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]