Zhdakha, Amvrosii

Zhdakha, Amvrosii [Ждаха, Амвросій; Ždaxa, Amvrosij; pseudonym of Смаглій, Амвросій; Smahlii, Amvrosii], b 18 December 1855 in Izmail, Bessarabia gubernia, d 8 September 1927 in Odesa. Graphic artist. His formal art education was limited to a brief period at the Odesa Art School in 1881. He taught at the Volhynia eparchy school for women in Kremenets (1908–10), the Odesa Trade and Industry School (1921–4), and the Odesa Art Institute (1924–7). While working as a bank clerk he was active in the Odesa Hromada and devoted his spare time to painting and to collecting Cossack weapons and folk art. From 1893 to 1914 he painted several series of watercolor illustrations to Ukrainian folk songs. Two of these series (20 pictures) were reproduced by the Chas publishing house in Kyiv in 1911–12 as postcards, together with words and scores. Zhdakha also designed book covers and illustrated editions of Panteleimon Kulish’s Chorna rada (Black Council, 1901), Mykhailo Komarov’s Opovidannia pro Antona Holovatoho (Stories about Antin Holovaty, 1901), Yevhen Hrebinka’s Chaikovs'kyi, and Taras Shevchenko’s Kobzar (30 unpublished illustrations).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]