Ukrainian artist, cartoonist, writer and publisher Edward Kozak (pseudonyms – Eko, Mamai, Mike Chichka), the most famous cartoonist of the Ukrainian Diaspora, realized a significant part of his life and work in the USA.
This was reported by Ukrainian Interest..
Edward Kozak was born on January 21 (February 3), 1902 in the village of Hirne in the Lviv region into a family of German origin, but from an early age he felt a sense of belonging to Ukrainians. He was educated at the Stryi Gymnasium, the Lviv Art School, as well as at the art schools of Vienna and Lublin. In the 1930s in Lviv he edited and published the satirical and humorous magazines “Ziz” (1926–1933) and “Komar”, illustrated various publications.
The satirical caricatures of Edward Kozak were distinguished by their sharpness and bold reinterpretation of tragic events in the history of the Ukrainian people, in particular the situation of Ukrainians under the “Soviet regime”. Because of this, in 1939 the Kozak family was forced to emigrate to Krakow, where the artist headed the art organization “Zarevo” and illustrated publications of the “Ukrainian Publishing House”. Later, the family ended up in Germany.
Since 1944, Edward Kozak headed the Ukrainian Union of Visual Artists in camps for displaced persons in Germany. In 1948, he launched the publication of the satirical and humorous magazine “Mykyta the Fox”, which became the most famous satirical magazine of the Ukrainian diaspora. In Munich, the artist also created a series of thematic postcards, in particular a cycle based on Ukrainian folk songs.
In 1951, Edward Kozak moved to Detroit (USA), where he began a new stage of creative activity. In America, he continued to publish the magazine "Mykyta the Fox" (until 1991) and founded his own publishing house of the same name. Every year he organized exhibitions of his works, wrote humorous stories, created paintings and caricatures.
In the USA, Kozak successfully worked as an illustrator. In the 1950s, he illustrated fairy tales on the American television channel WWJ-TV Channel 4, and also created painted color TV pictures for Jam Handy Film Studio.
In the period from 1952 to 1957, his works were repeatedly awarded at All-American competitions. At the same time, he created the decorations of the main hall of the Ukrainian camp "Soyuzivka" in New York State - one of the most famous Ukrainian camps in North America.
According to researchers, over the years of his work, Edward Kozak created about 1,000 paintings and several thousand caricatures and illustrations. The main themes of his art were the Ukrainian village, history, his native Lviv, Ukrainian emigration, the Hutsul region, politics, and the life of Ukrainians abroad. As a humorist, he created the image of Hryts Zozula, a “cunning village philosopher,” whose monologues combined wit and folk wisdom.
Ukrainian historian Ivan Kedryn noted about the artist’s versatility:
“There is no other figure in the history of Ukrainian culture who has demonstrated creative talent simultaneously in several types of fine art and literature.”
At the end of his life, Edward Kozak witnessed the restoration of Ukraine’s Independence, visited his homeland, and held his first personal exhibition in Ukraine in 1990 in Lviv, with his own participation.
Edward Kozak died on September 22, 1992. He was buried in Detroit, next to his wife. His creative legacy is now preserved in museums in various countries and private collections and remains an important part of the cultural history of the Ukrainian diaspora in the United States.
Photo: art.lviv-online.com, vseosvita.ua, ocalhistory.org.ua
Author: Danylo Pievchev