| Native Name Lang: | uk |
| Native Name: | Петро Петрович Холодний |
| Birth Date: | July 22, 1904 |
| Birth Place: | Kyiv, Ukraine |
| Death Place: | Glen Spey, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality: | Ukrainian |
| Known For: | Icons, mosaics, stained glass |
| Spouse: | Nataliia Livytska-Kholodna |
| Style: | Neo-Byzantine |
| Occupation: | Artist, iconographer, painter |
Petro P. Cholodny (Ukrainian: Петро Петрович Холодний|{{transliteration|uk|ukrainian|Petro Petrovych Kholodnyi; July 22, 1904 – January 24, 1990) was a Ukrainian painter, graphic artist and iconographer, born in Kyiv.[1] His father Petro Cholodny (the Elder) was a prominent artist and iconographer, whose icons adorned the Dormition Church Lviv, the iconostasis and murals of the Chapel of the Greek Catholic Theological Seminary in Lviv.[2]
Cholodny studied art the Ukrainian Studio of Plastic Arts in Prague (1926–7) and at the Warsaw Art Academy, (1928–34) where he later came to teach drawing and egg tempera painting. As a young artist, he was member of the Association of Independent Ukrainian Artists (Asotsiiatsia Nezalezhnykh Ukrains'kykh Myststiv - ANUM) in the 1930s.
Cholodny was married to Nataliia Livytska-Kholodna, Ukrainian poet and daughter of Andriy Livytskyi, the last prime minister of the Ukrainian People's Republic.[3] After the Second World War he lived and worked in various displaced persons camps in Germany. In 1950 he immigrated to the United States, where he became a member of the Ukrainian Artists' Association in the USA.
Cholodny believed in the importance of the icon as a portal for prayer. To serve the faithful, the church the iconographer had to adhere to centuries old traditions and symbols so that the icon fulfills its function. It must not draw attention to itself and a painting with a religious subject need not be an icon. Cholodny when interviewed often spoke of the transgressions of artists and architects who took liberties with these necessary precepts and traditions.[4]
Cholodny is was a naturalist, and late in life had an enormous collection of beetles and avidly studied entymology. His wife Nataliia, often commented that his approach to art work slow and methodical, while he pursued fishing and beetles with great zeal in old age. Although, he often painted landscapes and figurative compositions, he took special pleasure in his large, carefully rendered portraits of beetles. Ukrainian Canadian Art Historian, Daria Darewych explains that these insect renderings "represent a synthesis of icon traditions, scientific observation and contemporary pictorial concerns." She believes that they are Cholodny the Younger's greatest achievement and "inventive contribution to art generally and to Ukrainian art specifically."
His painting was based on Ukrainian style and tradition, but this work was also influenced by modern trends, particularly by Cubism and Constructivism, making it closely related to Mykhailo Boichuk’s school. His drawings always aimed for purity and simplicity of form, and he combined this with flat colors reminiscent of the Byzantine tradition.
His background in graphic arts proved useful for many years he while illustrated the Ukrainian children's monthly Veselka, and did bookplate, logo, and monogram design. His work is distinguished by its elegant, and light line. One-man exhibitions of his work were held in Philadelphia in 1973 and New York at the Ukrainian Institute and Chicago in 1977.[5] A New York retrospective exhibition was held on his 80th birthday in 1982.The Ukrainian Museum mounted an exhibition of three generations of Cholodny painters in 2001.[6] Andrew Charyna, Cholodny's grandson, is also a painter living in Canada.
Cholodny's significant works include monumental icons in a Neo-Byzantine style for several Ukrainian churches in the US. He created iconostasis, mosaics and stained glass windows for numerous churches and thus is credited for the revival of the Ukrainian-Byzantine art traditions of Iconography in the United States.
At the end of his life, Cholodny moved to Glen Spey, NY where an enclave of Ukrainians settled in the Catskills where they were reminded them of the territories of Western Ukraine, their homeland.[7] [8] [9] There he continued to avidly collect beetles, go fishing and to paint. The small town of Glen Spey, boasts two Ukrainian Churches, one Ukrainian Orthodox and one Byzantine Catholic, both with icons painted by Cholodny.[10]