(1885–1967) — an outstanding Ukrainian icon painter-monumentalist, a representative of the Ukrainian Secession, a student of Modest Sosenko. He was born in the village of Smorzhiv in the Radekhiv region into a teacher’s family. He studied in Lviv at a gymnasium and attended a vocational school with an artistic orientation at the Lviv Industrial Museum. He studied and worked under the guidance of Tadeusz Rybkowski. With the assistance of Modest Sosenko and Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, he studied at the Krakow Academy of Arts. Under the patronage of the Metropolitan, the artists worked together on the paintings of churches in the villages of Konyukhy, Slavske, and Ryków.

In 1914, he joined the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen Legion. He was the main designer of the Legion’s symbols and insignia. Later, he fought in the Ukrainian Galician Army. He attained the rank of centurion of the Ukrainian SSR, ataman of the UNR Army. After returning to Lviv, he married. From 1923 to 1927, he studied at the Prague Academy of Arts. In 1941, he emigrated to Krakow, and later to Vienna, Munich. In 1950, he moved to Canada, where he painted the frescoes of the Cathedral of the Holy Martyr Josaphat in Edmonton.

One of the key stages in his work was the frescoes in the Church of Christ the Lover of Man in Zhovkva, executed between 1910 and 1932. Butsmanyuk created a mural with bright national motifs, where he combined elements of Ukrainian sacred art with modern artistic approaches. The temple combines religious and historical figures, in particular, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky is depicted in the image of the Lord of Sabaoth.

Mykhailo Skop