Item PR3824 - God the Creator Drawing

Julian Bucmaniuk was born July 3rd, 1885 in the Village of Smorzhev, Radekhiv District, in Ukraine. He began his artistic training at trade school in Lviv, where he learned the basics of painting, in particular, decorative techniques. In 1906, during the painting of a church frescoe, he met the well-known artist Modest Sosenko, who became a large influence in his artistic development. With Sosenko’s assistance, Bucmaniuk continued his education in the Cracow Academy of Art from 1908-1914.
During the First World War, Bucmaniuk was a member of the military unit: the “Ukrainsky Sichovi Striltsi,” (the Ukrainian Sharpshooters). After the war, he travelled to Vienna and Prague, and between 1923 and 1927 he continued his education at the Academy of Art in Prague. In 1928, he returned to Lviv to teach drawing to high school and trade school students of Ridna Shkola, the Ukrainian National School. Throughout this time he was painting frescoes in the main church of the Basilian Fathers in the Town of Shovkva. He was also commissioned to paint the chapel of St. Josaphat’s, part of the church complex of the Basilian Fathers.
Bucmaniuk moved around quite a bit during the years surrounding and involving the Second World War: first to Cracow, then to Vienna and Munich. In 1950, he was invited to come to Edmonton, Alberta, by Bishop Neil Savaryn of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Bucmaniuk and his family arrived in Edmonton on June 27th, 1950, and in the years 1951-1956, with the help of his son Bohdan and his wife Irene, Bucmaniuk painted his monumental frescoes in Edmonton’s St. Josaphat’s Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral. While Julian and his son, Bohdan, painted the mural, Irene would assist by mixing the paints, which consisted of a special mixture of coloured pigments, linseed oil, eggs and milk. Later, Bucmaniuk established an art school in the city where he taught for 10 years. In the course of his teaching, he organized six exhibitions of his art and the art of his students. He died in Edmonton on December 30th, 1967.