Western Ukraine is the homeland of one of the most profound and intriguing altar sculptors of the 18th century – the famous artist known as Master Johann Pinzel (1751 – 1770s). Master Pinzel, whose real name remains a mystery, is most known as the founder of “Lviv Rococo” style in art and the author of beautiful altars and sculptures he made in Buchach and Horodenka.

Not much is known about the life of the Master, besides his genius artistic legacy and the fact that he was living and working in Buchach for the most of his life and spent his last years in the city of Lviv. ‘The Sacrifice of the Forgotten Master, a book written by the Ukrainian detective writer Evgeniya Kononenko and inspired by the many riddles that surrounded the life of the famous sculptor, was rightfully named the ‘Ukrainian Da Vinci Code.’

My personal encounter with Pinzel’s sculptures presented in the Ukrainian Museum of the Sacral Arts was a true sensual discovery, while later I got to know that the year 2007 was declared The Year of Pinzel in Ukraine. No wonder, since the art of Pinzel has been compared to that of Lorenzo Bernini and even Michelangelo Buonarotti! Every one who has ever seen Pinzel’s famous sculptured carved in stone on the St. Yura Cathedral in Lviv, the Roman-Catholic Church altar in Horodenka, or Buchach City Hall, cannot remain indifferent in front of his magnificent images of Samson, Tsar David, Avraam, and other biblical characters and saints. Art critics say that the sculptors of Pinzel paradoxically combine the elements of spiritual and passionate into a unique style that embraces the elements of violent movement, illusionism, and grotesque. Some art historians even name Pinzel a precursor of Expressionism.

The album œIoann George Pinzel. Sculpture. Transformation that has been recently published in Ukraine, is the first attempt to make the general public aware of the vast heritage of Pinzel – the most distinctive and brilliant sculptor in all history of Ukraine.

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