ARCHIVAL MOMENT
June 15, 1880
Hall Ceiling Painted by Pindkowsky, Government House
On June 17, 1880, the Carbonear Herald a local Newfoundland newspaper reported on the conviction of Alexander Pindikowsky, a young artist and fresco painter, convicted for forgery. He was sentenced on June 15, 1880 to fifteen months at her Majesty’s Penitentiary.
The St. John’s newspaper, The Royal Gazette reported:
“Pindinkowsky was ordered within five days of his release to quit the country (Newfoundland) for life, in default of which, on his return to the country at any time, he is to receive further imprisonment.”
Pindikowsky (also Pindikowskie) arrived in Newfoundland in 1879 as a professional artist and fresco painter. He was hired by the Anglo American Telegraph Company to give art instruction to interested employees and their wives at Hearts Content Cable Office.
He was arrested on March 10, 1880 and charged with attempting forge two cheques in the name of E. Weedon, Esq. of Hearts Content, Trinity Bay.
The Polish artist’s talents as a fresco painter were brought to the attention of the authorities at the Penitentiary and they were soon put to official use, in return for a remission of five weeks on his sentence. He was set to work designing and painting frescos, to relieve the drabness of the state rooms of Government House.
Governor John Hawley Glover (1876-1885) was so delighted with the frescos that he suggested to Prime Minister William Whiteway that the prisoner Pindinkowsky also decorate the ceilings of the two legislative chambers of the Colonial Building. Seeing an opportunity the Presentation Sisters at Cathedral Square in St. John’s who were in the process of working on their chapel and drawing room invited the talents of the young artist.
Each day Pindinowsky was brought from the penitentiary to his place of work until the frescos were complete.
It could be said that this is one of the first documented cases of a prison rehabilitation program in Newfoundland and Labrador.
ROMANCE IN GOVERNMENT HOUSE
Researcher and historian, John O’Mara in his research on Government House in St. John’s discovered that Pindikowsky was also a romantic. In his research he discovered the face of a woman subtly painted into the ceiling of government house. Some believe her to be one of the maids at government house. She could possibly be Ellen Dormody the mother of Pindikowsky’s first child, Johanna Mary Ellen Pindikowskie, who was baptized at the Roman Catholic Cathedral (now Basilica) on May 1, 1882.
It is clear that Pindikowsky banishment from the country was withdrawn, he decided to stay in Newfoundland. In 1882 he was advertising his services in a local newspaper, as a fresco painter.
The Athenaeum, established in 1879 with it’s 1,000 seat theatre, that was central to much of the musical activity of the city hired him. He painted some very fine murals on the interior walls of the building. Unfortunately the theatre and his work were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1892.
Pindikowsky left St. John’s for the ‘Boston States’ in approximately 1882 followed a year later by Ellen Dormody. She is recorded as travelling from St. John’s to Boston on the SS Colan (or Coban) in 1883.
Life in Boston was unsettled they fist settled in Malden, Mass in 1885 where he is listed in the city directory as a painter then Brockton, Mass, in the city directories of 1887, 1888 and 1889, back to Malden for 1890, then in Newport, RI where he was listed in the city directory as a painter in 1897 and later back in Brockton, Mass.
It appears that he died between 1887 -1906. His wife is listed in the Brockton city directory as a nurse and a widow in 1906.
Ellen Dormody the wife of Pindikowsky would have felt very at home in the Boston area. The Commonwealth of Boston census for 1885 reports that 2851 Newfoundlanders had settled in the city and surrounding towns. That number had grown to 7,591 Newfoundlanders by 1895. The census for Boston in 1915 reports that 13,269 residents of the Boston area claimed Newfoundland as their place of birth.
The ‘Boston States’ and Newfoundland have many connections.
Recommended Archival Collection: What do we have in the ‘Rooms Archives’ on this subject? Take a look at some of the photographs of the interior of Government House – 100 years ago – Pindikowsky is responsible for the ceilings. Type Government House Interior in the search bar here: http://gencat1.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/request/DoMenuRequest?SystemName=The+Rooms+Public&UserName=wa+public&Password=&TemplateProcessID=6000_3355&bCachable=1&MenuName=The+Rooms+Archives
Recommended Reading: Art, Love and Savagery: Carolyn Moran. Flanker Press, St. John’s, 2016.
Recommended Website: http://www.heritage.nf.ca/govhouse/govhouse/tour2.html
Recommended Visit: To see the work of Alexander Pindikowsky both Government House and Presentation Convent are available to the public by appointment. The Colonial Building is undergoing extensive renovations and is closed.