Nicholas Hornyansky (Canadian, 1896-1965)
‘St Andrews Church, Niagara on the Lake’
aquatint / etching
5 1/4″ high x 4″ wide
Notes: “Presbyterians formed a congregation at Niagara in 1794 with John Dun as resident minister. Within a year they had built a church, and by 1802 a schoolhouse. American troops burned the church during the War of 1812, claiming that British soldiers had used the steeple as an observation post. The congregation held services in the schoolhouse until 1831 when, under the leadership of the Reverend Robert McGill, they built this church. Restored but little altered, St. Andrew’s is a splendid example of Greek Revival architecture. The church’s interior, classically Georgian in design, retains the original high pulpit and box pews.” ~ St Andrews, NOTL, Blue Plaque
“The upper part was used as a school for black children of settlers who had escaped from slavery via the Underground Railroad. In 1793 the Government of Upper Canada signed into law a bill abolishing slavery, six months before Britain. Niagara became known as the “City of Refuge” to those who had followed the north star to freedom. An account by a black woman of her schooldays in Niagara: “I went to a black man upstairs in the school house of the Scotch church. The room was full, full of children. The benches were slabs with the flat side up and the back of the trees down, with round sticks put in slanting for legs. The children all studied aloud and the one that made the most noise was the head scholar in those days.” ~ St. Andrews, Niagara, About Us
“1831- Present church – built on the same site – style of the Greek Revival, based on the Temple of Theseus. 17 feet x 55 feet of yellowish red brick, and a portico of six Doric columns and a pediment. The tympanum (above the front door) had a gilt sun-burst, and an octagonal steeple pointed heavenward over the front of the church.” ~St. Andrews, Niagara, About Us
Markings: titled and signed in margins
Condition: Excellent, Ready for Display
For Accuracy: an antique it may show expected light signs of age. It retains good colour, is framed behind glass and ready for display.
Artist Biography: HORNYANSKY, Nicholas (Hungarian, Canadian, 1896-1965) ARCA, OSA, CPE, FIAL, ACPS. Born in Budapest, Hungary he worked as a colour mixer in the printing office of his father by the age of 12. STUDIED: Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest, under Prof. Ballo (portrait painting) and Prof. Pasteiner (aesthetics); Graduate Studies in Vienna, Munich, Antwerp and Paris; Simultaneous Colour aquating with Sagnelonge, Etching under Aba-Novak; edition studio in Brussels. INFLUENCES: Van Eyck; Breughel (The Younger); El Greco; Diego Rivera. WORKED: Belgium as an accomplished portrait painter; As part of the School of Hens with Franz Hens doing landscape painting; Worked with Franz henz. EXHIBITED: Grand Salon of Budapest (at age 16); London as a Portrait Painter; teacher Ontario College of Art (1945-1958); Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery (1967); Lionel Clarke Galleries Toronto (1967); The Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery and Museum of Fine Art, Owen Sound, Ontario (1968); California Printmakers; Philadelphia Society of Etchers; Northwest Printmakers (Seattle); American Academy of Design; Prairie Printmakers (Kansas); Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art; Society of American Etchers (New York); Souther Printmakers (Mount Airy); and the American Colour Print Society of Philadelphia.. COLLECTIONS: National Gallery of Canada; Royal Ontario Museum; National Print Collection, Library of Congress; New Mexico Museum (Santa Fe); Pennsylvania Museum of Art (Philadelphia); Musee Plantyn (Antqerp); Hart House, U of T; The John Ross Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library. Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp; Museum Modene, Ghent, Antwerp; Dowage Queen Elizabeth, Belgium; Govenment Collection, London, England; Rothschild Collection, Trink Castle; Exhibited: Toronto (1929); Royal Canadian Academy; Ontario Society of Artists; Society of Canadian Painter-Etchers and Engravers (1939 onwards); ASSOCIATIONS: Associate Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1943); Society of Canadian Painter-Etchers & Engravers (Pres. 194301958); American Color Print Society (Philadelphia), and the Ontario Society of Artists, Life Fellow, International Instutute of Arts and Letters. AWARDS: “Fifty Prints Of the Year,” American Federation of Art (1932, 1933); The G. A. Reid Silver Memorial Award (1955); Sterling Trust’s First Purchase Award (CPE); E. A. Klein First Purchase Award (Philadelphia)
