New work added
Rock on the Isar River, 1947
This website is intended to honour and preserve the works of Ivan (John) Keywan, a notable Ukrainian artist, art critic and historian. Born in Western Ukraine and driven into exile by the events of World War II, he lived the last four decades of his life in Edmonton, Canada.
The art created by Ivan Keywan includes portraits, landscapes, historical and commemorative works executed in pencil, oil, tempera, watercolour and scratchboard, as well as graphic designs for book covers, stamps, certificates and other documents and ex libris. In his role as art historian and critic, Keywan authored many articles, produced several monographs on Ukrainian artists, and wrote a two-volume history of Ukrainian art, of which a section has been published under the title Ukrainian Artists outside Ukraine (1996).
Latest Additions to the Gallery · February 2024
Details updated
Alpine Valley, 1946
This website is a work in progress. As the result of war and emigration, Keywan's works are scattered over different countries and continents; to date, not all have been identified and documented. More images and text will be added to this site gradually, as originals or photos of Keywan's works are located and written materials are accessed. As will be evident, the quality of the existing images is uneven. In some cases, poor quality is due to the deterioration of the original works after years of improper storage; in other cases, an imperfect image is the only one we had available in the absence of access to the original work. If you can provide a better image of a given work, or have photos of, or information about, other works by Ivan Keywan, we would appreciate hearing from you.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the following persons for their contributions to this site: Jurij Majiwskyj for checking Ukrainian texts;
Martin Coles and Ihor Todoruk for photographing some of Ivan Keywan’s works.
Works photographed by Martin Coles: My Wife, My Family, Self-Portrait, Wife Maria with Son Orest, Rock, Marusia, Dark Alpine Landscape - Berchtesgaden, Pink Alpine Landscape, Alps with Mittenwald, Alpine Landscape with Town, Old Man and Portrait of Ivan Keywan by Julian Butsmaniuk.
Works photographed by Ihor Todoruk: Senator Olena Kysilevska and Artist Yuriy Narbut.
On the "Brief Biography" page: Portrait of Ivan Keywan by artist Julian Butsmaniuk, 1960.
