A.Kobryn Column 04/01/98 Ukrainian Artist's Work Ends up in Panhandle

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The North Port (Florida) Sun Herald -- 04/01/98

Atanas T. Kobryn column: Ukrainian artist's work ends up in Panhandle

The Feb. 25 column entitled "Ukrainians big in area arts" contained
information about two avant garde Ukrainian artists exhibiting their
works in Sanibel, Fla. These two artists, Olexander Dubovky and Yevhen
Prokopov, will be without doubt famous because they possess both the
talent and perseverance, the ingredients needed to succeed.

I don't know how many art objects were acquired by Floridians during
the aforementioned artists' exhibit. There is an art object however in
Florida from another master, and the story of that painting is an
interesting one indeed.

The artist's name is Mychajlo Moroz who died in Staten Island, N. Y.,
in 1992 at the age of 88. The painting, completed in 1932 is of the
Carpathian Mountains. It is in the possession of a family in Fort Walton
Beach, Fla. The owner of the painting writes: "My ancestors are German
and my father, Wolfgang Hecht, was in Ukraine in the early 1940s, where
he purchased the picture in question and gave it to my mother for
Christmas in 1942. It has been in our family since that time. I came to
this country in 1957 and we brought the painting to the U.S. in 1976
when my mother came to live with my husband and myself in Florida.

Even though the painting remained in Germany during the war, it was
never in any real danger. And I remember it hanging in our dining room
and walking in front of it just to have the vivid eyes of the Landowner
follow me. A feeling our daughters shared with me as they were growing
up."

Knowing from personal experience the practices of German occupiers in
Ukraine as well as in other occupied countries I have a strong suspicion
about the circumstances of the "purchase" of this painting. At the same
time I have to admit that there were some honest Germans, and Mr. Hecht
could have been one of these exceptional individuals. The artist's
widow, Irene Moroz, does not plan, to the best of my knowledge, to
challenge the legal ownership of this masterpiece. As a matter of fact,
in one of her letters to the owner Mrs. Moroz wrote: "I am extremely
happy that the painting was not destroyed during the war."

The late artist, Mychajlo Moroz, was born in Ukraine. He came with his
family to the United States in 1950 after extensive travel throughout
Europe and Asia, where he painted landscapes and portraits of famous
sites and individuals for which he won accolades. His name appears under
the category of European art in some encyclopedias, and he has a room
devoted to his works in the Ukrainian Museum of Rome, Italy.

A monograph of Mychjlo Moroz' works was published by the Art Museum of
LaSalle University in Philadelphia in 1995. It was compiled by the
artist's widow, Irene Moroz, who continues to reside in Staten Island,
N.Y. Mrs. Moroz was kind enough to send me the monograph "as a token of
appreciation for your good deeds in the past," as she wrote in her
accompanying note. I am overwhelmed by her generosity because the
monograph is both a very expensive and very nice gift. Nevertheless I
will donate it to the North Port Library, to make it available to a wide
circle of art connoisseurs.

Unfortunately, the aforementioned portrait of the Landowner does not
appear in the monograph, because Mrs. Moroz did not learn about its
existence until 1996. She is preparing an addition to the monograph and
will include it in the addition.

By the way, most of Mr. Moroz's early paintings were destroyed in
Warsaw, Poland, during the anti Nazi uprising in 1944. His paintings
were sent there for safekeeping. Many other paintings could be "around,"
similarly to the portrait of the Landowner. Mrs. Moroz would like to
know.
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Atans Kobryn is an immigrant from Ukraine who writes about his former
homeland and the Ukrainian Community in the North Port Sun Herald.
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