Mosaic and stained glass: the art of Roman Kowal (03/03/02)

Mosaic and stained glass: the art of Roman Kowal

by Alexandra Hawryluk

WINNIPEG - On entering St. Andrew's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Winnipeg, one's attention is drawn to the large round stained-glass window. There, against the deep blue of outer space is the majestic, seated figure of Christ. Yet, His gentle gaze, the subtle sadness of His facial expression, the voluminous folds of his red and white garments are far removed from the dark, ascetic, sternness of a Byzantine Pantokrator. It is rather, a modern stylized image that blends Western humanism with Eastern Christian spirituality. And that is the trademark style of Roman Kowal, one of the most prolific Ukrainian artists living in Canada.

When Mr. Kowal was studying at the Fine Arts Institute in Lviv, however, he did not envisage a career in stained glass or mosaics, but rather in sculpture and painting. Crossing the Atlantic in 1948, however, altered those plans. Then, just as a promising career in designing museum and commercial displays in western Canada was opening up, one of the Ukrainian parishes in Winnipeg asked Mr. Kowal to decorate the interior of its small church. Why did he accept this offer? As he put it: "There was a great need. The pioneer churches were decorated in a very simple, naive style. As the artistic product of any society is a good indicator of its cultural level, this simplicity was troubling."

The Ukrainian Canadian churches built in the early years of the 20th century were built and decorated by untrained craftsmen, who were not so much interested in developing an artistic tradition as in assuaging the community's feelings of homesickness. They built churches with the familiar pear-shaped domes and decorated their interiors with simple, nostalgic images.

With the influx of new immigrants after World War II, these old Ukrainian community churches could no longer accommodate the large crowds gathering there for feast days. So, communities began putting up bigger buildings. Unlike their rural predecessors, these new urban churches built during the 1950s and 1960s, were designed by professional engineers, architects and artists. In Winnipeg, Sviatoslav Hordynsky was commissioned to paint both the Orthodox Cathedral of St. Mary the Protectress and the Catholic Cathedral of Ss. Volodymyr and Olha, while Serhij Lytvynenko was asked to design the two iconostases. Not surprisingly, Mr. Lytvynenko engaged his former student, Mr. Kowal, as manager of the two projects.

In fact, these projects signaled the beginning of a new phase in the development of Ukrainian ecclesiastic art in North America: the revival of the neo-Byzantine iconographic style. This style - possibly because it was perceived as an appropriate response to the Soviet destruction of religious art in Ukraine - soon became the accepted mode for the interior design of Ukrainian churches in Canada.

Although, the conservative-minded congregations and pastors loved this synthesized style and identified it as "Ukrainian" (despite the clear presence of non-Ukrainian iconographic elements), some artists, most notably Myron Levytsky, chose not to join this movement. Respecting the dynamics of modern design, as well as the conventions of traditional iconography, Mr. Levytsky was able to create vibrant, unique, contemporary depictions of traditional religious subjects, as he so admirably did in the church of the Holy Eucharist in Toronto.

Struck by the unpleasant contrast between new architectural forms and the rigidity of the synthesized neo-Byzantine designs, Mr. Kowal, too, created an iconographic style that was more in harmony both with modern architectural space and contemporary understanding of religion. Despite the public outcry against this modernism, Mr. Kowal was lucky enough to enjoy the support and the patronage of Metropolitan Maxim Hermaniuk, the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada at the time, who commissioned him to paint his private chapel in Winnipeg.

Decorating Canadian church interiors, however, presented a set of technical problems. As neither the Canadian construction methods, nor the Canadian climate favored frescoes, artists had to devise new painting techniques. Mr. Hordynsky painted all his large figures on canvas in oil and then glued the cut-out figures to the wall. That way, all he needed to paint directly on the wall surface was the background. The trouble with this technique was that, if the building got too hot the glue would dry and the edges of the canvas would lift. In addition, sometimes too, the cutouts would have an unpleasantly pronounced edge. To avoid these problems, Mr. Levytsky painted large-scale compositions in oil on panels of canvas or wood. Mr. Kowal, though, found a different solution: "I concluded that the best way to come out a winner with the climate is to do mosaics. And so, the first mosaic I made was for a church built by Victor Deneka."

This commission turned out to be the start of a lifelong friendship between Messrs. Kowal and Deneka. When in 1967 Mr. Deneka built a church in Russell, Manitoba, he called on Mr. Kowal to do, not only the wonderful mosaic over the main entrance, but all the stained-glass windows as well. So successful was this partnership that Ukrainian communities in Portage la Prairie, Winnipeg and Dauphin, Manitoba, commissioned the pair to build and decorate their churches.

One of Mr. Kowal's loveliest mosaics is his "Pokrova," set in the apse of Mr. Deneka's St. Mary the Protectress Ukrainian Catholic Church in Winnipeg. With one foot stepping forward, the Mother of God, a white, narrow scarf, or "pokrov," gently fluttering in her hands, seems to be descending on a glittering shaft of light. The subtle modeling of the figure and the placement of ornament suggests a work which, while paying homage to the past, is firmly set in contemporary thought.

The rich, clear colors and the elegant simplicity of Mr. Kowal's design soon gained him a following in Saskatchewan and Alberta. For the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Edmonton, for example, Mr. Kowal created a large mosaic for the apse and a complete set of stained-glass windows. The exterior of the church was adorned with a set of four sculptured bronze doors over which he placed mosaic portraits of the four evangelists. In Regina, Saskatchewan, the 20-foot mosaic of Christ, the Savior in the apse of the Ukrainian Catholic church of St. Basil the Great is most arresting. All in all, 16 churches in Canada are graced by Mr. Kowal's work.

Of these, two Winnipeg churches, St. Michael's and Holy Family - both designed by the internationally acclaimed architect Radoslav Zuk - have a special significance for Mr. Kowal. As in all of Mr. Zuk's churches, the natural light in the Church of the Holy Family comes in from above illuminating the altar and making Mr. Kowal's mosaic of the Holy Family, on the wall just behind the altar, shimmer and glow.

At St. Michael's, Mr. Kowal is most pleased with the 12 apostles in the apse because, as he put it: "Each one has a distinctly individual personality, quite different from any other. There's also a new way of treating the draped figure." Complementing the main mosaic in the apse are two other mosaics over the side altars: the Birth of Christ and Resurrection. But, the most amazing thing at St. Michael's is the matte, gold-colored, metal iconostasis - a modern transparent screen adorned by six large mosaic icons. The deep blue of the small stained-glass windows lends the interior a peaceful, other-worldly ambiance.

In spite of all his commissions for stained glass and mosaics, Mr. Kowal did not abandon his first love - sculpture. In Winnipeg's City Park, in tribute to the tenacity of the Red River settlers, he has put up a life-sized sculpture of a Red River cart drawn by a most determined-looking ox. His bronze and marble monument in honor of the victims of the 1933 Famine in Ukraine, placed directly in front of Winnipeg City Hall, moves all who see it.

Mr. Kowal's innovative approach to ecclesiastic interior design, his unique style with its dramatic treatment of light and color, his ability to present old subjects in a new way, his openness to the community, along with his knack for making people aware of the spiritual dimension of life, have earned him the trust and respect of his own community and have assigned him an important role in the development of Canadian religious art.

Alexandra Hawryluk writes a regular feature, "The World of Ideas," for Radio Canada International in Montreal.

| Home Page |