Jennifer Hornyak (born 1940) is a Canadian artist known for her semi-figurative style. Early in her career her scenes of Montreal personalities were exhibited at the 1987 Paris World Exhibition. She is now recognized for her colourful and textured graphic still lifes.

Life and career

Jennifer Hornyak (Jennifer Lynne Hampton) was born in

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of L ...

, England. From 1956 to 1959, she attended the Grimsby School of Art. In 1961 she immigrated to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. She continued her art studies at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

, the

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA; french: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, MBAM) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square ...

, and at the Saidye Bronfman Centre where she first exhibited her paintings of Montreal scenes and personalities. Hornyak's first solo exhibitions were held in 1984 and 1985 at Galerie Claude Lafitte (Montreal). Praised by art reviewer André Martin for her gift of "anecdote", Hornyak then participated in a group show at

Place des Arts Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Often ...

(Montreal) and held a solo exhibition at Nancy Poole's Studio (Toronto). In 1987, Hornyak was the sole Canadian to participate at the Paris World Exhibition at the invitation of her patron, Baroness Marie-Hélène de Rothschild. Exhibiting her paintings alongside those by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, Amedeo Modigliani, and

Kees van Dongen Cornelis Theodorus Maria "Kees" van Dongen (26 January 1877 – 28 May 1968) was a Dutch-French painter who was one of the leading Fauves. Van Dongen's early work was influenced by the Hague School and symbolism and it evolved gradually into a r ...

, increased recognition led to her participation in ''Feminissima'' at Galerie Artcurial (Paris) as the sole Canadian among artists from 35 countries,Aubrey, Bernoit, ":Hornyak: un marche en hausse constante" ''Le collectionneur'' Hiver 1990-1. 21. Print. and at the Palais des Expositions (Nice). The following year she exhibited at Donna Heuhhoff Gallery (Dallas), at Sandra Werther Fine Art (New York) in 1989, and held a solo show at Eleonore Austerer Gallery, San Francisco in 1991. Throughout this period, she honed her technique at the Vermont Studio Colony with Stanley Boxer, George McLean and

Elmer Bischoff Elmer Nelson Bischoff (July 9, 1916 – March 2, 1991) was a visual artist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bischoff, along with Richard Diebenkorn and David Park, was part of the post- World War II generation of artists who started as abstract p ...

and with Elizabeth Lyons in

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, Italy. By 1991, Hornyak's work had been reviewed in the prestigious journals ''

ARTnews ''ARTnews'' is an American visual-arts magazine, based in New York City. It covers art from ancient to contemporary times. ARTnews is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. It has a readership of 180,000 in 124 countr ...

'', ''Art Auction'', '' Art in America'', ''Beaux-Arts'' (France) and ''Mizue'' (China), but continued to evolve. Increasingly introspective, in 1994 art reviewer Bernard Théoret noted that her "'appeal to the unconscious was impressionistic like an invitation to the garden of the soul". Flowers soon became her symbol of "universality" and dominant subject.Studio 21

Web. Influenced by the graphic still lifes of

Giorgio Morandi Giorgio Morandi (July 20, 1890 – June 18, 1964) was an Italian painter and printmaker who specialized in still life. His paintings are noted for their tonal subtlety in depicting simple subjects, which were limited mainly to vases, bottles, bo ...

, her signature style, of "semi-figurative, almost abstract, works... built up through a complex technique of richly coloured glazes", was evident by 2003. Since 2003 Hornyak has held over ten solo exhibitions in cities such as Ottawa and Halifax. A participant in many group shows, her paintings are exhibited alongside work by

Jim Dine Jim Dine (born June 16, 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American artist whose œuvre extends over sixty years. Dine’s work includes painting, drawing, printmaking (in many forms including lithographs, etchings, gravure, intaglio, woodcuts, l ...

, Chuck Close, and Tom Hopkins in Montreal, and at Miami Art Basel, the Chicago Contemporary and Classic, and Toronto International Art Fair. In 2013, Hornyak exhibited across Canada at Wallace Galleries (Calgary), Trias Gallery (Toronto), Oeno Gallery (Prince Edward County), Galerie St-Laurent + Hill (Ottawa), Galerie de Bellefeuille (Montreal), Studio 21 (Halifax) and Trinity Gallery (Saint John). In April 2015 her first solo exhibition of figurative works in over twenty-years, ''The Figure Revisited'' at the Visual Arts Centre (Montreal), was included in the "Must-Sees" column in ''

Canadian Art Canadian art refers to the visual (including painting, photography, and printmaking) as well as plastic arts (such as sculpture) originating from the geographical area of contemporary Canada. Art in Canada is marked by thousands of years of hab ...

''. Hornyak has served on juries for the 2013 Women’s Art Society (Montreal), the 2011 OKWA Festival (Kingston, Ontario), and the 1991 American Women’s Art Show (Montreal). She has also held workshops in Eastern Canada at the Creativity Art Retreat (Dunedin, Ontario), at the Alelucia, L’Ecole d’Arts de l’Estrie (Magog, Quebec) and, at the Elephant Barn (Georgeville, Quebec). Hornyak's work can be found in many private and corporate corporations, including: Bell Canada Enterprises, Bombardier Transport, Burroughs Welcome Inc., Imperial Oil, Dupont Canada, Hoechst Canada Inc., Power Corporation, Groupe La Laurentienne, Groupe SNC Lavalin, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Westin Hotels, La Presse, and the MacNaughton Collection. Hornyak works and lives in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Career highlights

*2009 Selected to exhibit at the International Print Triennial,

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

(Poland) *1992 Painting featured on the book cover of "Three by Three" by Anne Dandurand *1990 Painting on cover: ''50th Year Celebration of Quebec House'' for Quebec Delegation Office,

Rockefeller Plaza Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...

, New York. *1990 Presentation at the

for the Women’s Art Society *1989

, Group Exhibition *1989 Record cover for

le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM), based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is one of the world's premier chamber orchestras specializing in contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1989 by Lorraine Vaillancourt, who serves as the ensemble's conductor ...

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*1988 Mural for Our Lady of Hungary Church, Montreal *1987 The sole Canadian exhibitor at the 1987 Paris World Exposition *1984 Group Exhibition

, Montreal Select Solo Exhibitions *2013 Wallace Galleries, Calgary *2011 Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal *2011 Galerie St-Laurent + Hill, Ottawa *2010 Trinity Galleries, Saint John *2006 Wallace Galleries, Calgary *2004 Studio 21, Halifax *1994 Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal *1991 Eleonore Austerer Gallery, San Francisco. *1987 Nancy Poole Studio, TorontoGalerie Claude Lafitte. ''Jennifer Hornyak at Nancy Poole's Studio''. Montreal: 1987. Print. *1983 Galerie Claude Lafitte, Montreal

References and external links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornyak, Jennifer 1940 births Living people 20th-century Canadian painters 21st-century Canadian painters People from Grimsby