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Nykyfor Krynytskii/Nikifor
Krynicki (b. Epifanii Drovniak, May 21, 1895, Krynica [Austrian
Galicia], Poland; d. October 10, 1968, Folusz, Poland) —
world-renowned Lemko naive painter in Poland. Nykyfor started
painting at an early age, but was not “discovered” until the 1930s.
His first exhibition was organized in Paris (1932) at the initiative
of the Galician-Ukrainian painter, Roman Turyn. By World War II
Nykyfor was largely forgotten, and after the conflict ended he was
deported from the *Lemko Region to Szczecin in northern Poland.
Twice he returned home on foot and twice more he was deported.
After 1948 Nykyfor the artist was “rediscovered,” but this time as a
“Polish primitivist.” His works were exhibited in several cities in
Poland (Sopot, Cracow, Warsaw) and abroad (London and Rome). Thanks
to the Polish art experts Andrzej and Ewa Banach Nykyfor’s works
were even more widely exhibited: in 1959 (Amsterdam, Brussels, Liège,
Jerusalem, and Haifa); in 1960 (Frankfurt, Hannover, Baden-Baden,
and Basel); and subsequently in Vienna, London, Kiev, Zagreb,
Munich, and the United States. Many of Nykyfor’s paintings capture
his unique vision of the Lemko environment in which he spent almost
all his life. Of particular importance was the Byzantine-rite
church, which for him served as a place of reflection as well as
shelter and whose icons provided artistic inspiration. In 1995 a
permanent museum including 215 of his paintings as well as personal
effects was established in his native Lemko Region town of Krynica.
Bibliography: Tadeusz Zagórzański, Nikifor: bibliografia w 100-lecie
urodzin Nikifora (Warsaw, 1995); Andrzej Banach, Nikifor (Cracow,
1957); Andrzej Banach, Pamiątka z Krynicy (Cracow, 1959); Andrzej
Banach, Nikifor (Warsaw, 1993); Oleh Sydor, “Nykyfor-Epyfanii
Drovniak: vidkryttia i vidryvachi,” Pamiatky Ukraïny, No. 110 (Kiev,
1995), pp. 159-161; Zbigniew Wolanin, Nikifor (Olszanica, 2000).
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