Nicholas Petkovich

Nicholas Petkovich (Indjija, Vojvodina, then Austria-Hungary, 18 August 1893 - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, 16 October 1952) was an American artistand priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church
==Biography==
Nikola Petkovich was born on 18 August 1893 in Indjija, a town and municipality located in the Srem District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, in today's Serbia, but then was part of the Austria-Hungary, like most of northern Serbia and entire Croatia. Nikola was the youngest child of Mladen and Juditha (née Vukičević) Petkovich.Nikola's two siblings were a sister, Ljubica, and a brother, Teodor. Their father was a successful merchant and importer.
By the age of ten, Nikola had lost both his parents: his mother before he was three, and his father before he was ten. The Petkovich estate was divided, and a trust fund was established for Nikola and the two sibilings to provide for their respective education.
Nikola graduated from the Gymnasium (school) and enrolled in law school at the University of Zagreb. His brother Teodor graduated from the same law school and became a prominent judge and author of several books on philosophy. Nikola looked up to his older brother and first thought he might follow in Teodor's footsteps. 
After a year, he withdrew from law school and entered the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna in Vienna. 
In 1912 during the First Balkan War, he left school with some of his friends and voluntarilly joined the Serbian Army. He was assigned to an army hospital in Old Serbia and when the war ended three months later, he was given an honorable discharge. Upon leaving the military, he went to a semenary to become a monk and an ordained priest. There he also studied icon and fresco painting. Upon completion in 1916, he decided to emigrate abroad. Father Nikolaj arrived in New York City with six dollars in his pocket, and a letter of introduction to a Serbian priest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For the next quarter of a century he served Serb communities in Akron, Lorain, Ohio; Butte, Montana; and Clairton, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He also took up teaching art in the 1920s at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now CMU) in Pittsburgh where he remained for the rest of his life. 
By 1940, he was listed in the city directory as Rev. Nikolaj Petkovich, pastor of St. Sava's Serbian Orthodox Church and resided 2107 Sidney Street, on Pittsburgh's South Side. In 1944, he appeared in the city directory as "Conversationalist," a reference to his role as Serbian language instructor for a group of U.S. soldiers being trained at the University of Pittsburgh as candidates for the Office of Strategic Services (Office of Strategic Services). While at St. Sava's, Father Nikolaj was seperated from the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1942 when he broke his vow as a Clerical celibacy priest by marrying Zora Strain. A petition was signed by parishioners asking for his reinstatment but it was all to no avail.
After leaving the Orthodox Church, Nicholas Petkovich was invited to be an assistant minister of the Calvary Episcopal Churchhttps://www.google.ca/books/edition/Pennsylvania_History/bBYRAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Nicholas+Petkovich%22+-wikipedia&dq=%22Nicholas+Petkovich%22+-wikipedia&printsec=frontcover in Shadyside. https://www.google.ca/books/edition/The_Living_Church/vF_kAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Nicholas+Petkovich%22+-wikipedia&pg=RA17-PA31&printsec=frontcoverThere he served on a voluntary basis and befriended Bishop Lauriston L. Scaife, and two artists Norwood Hodge MacGilvary (1874-1949), and Dr. Andrey Avinoff. All three would change the direction of Petkovich's life. 
Petkovich met Norwood Hodge MacGilvary while he was a student at Carnegie Institute of Technology. As associate professor of Art, MacGilvary was impressed with the talents of Nikolaj, now Nicholas, and appointed him to the faculty as "Messier", so that Nicholas need pay no tuition.
Later, Petkovich would meet Dr. Andrey Avinoff, an entomologist and artist who was at the time Director of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. When Nicholas accepted to be an assitant minister at Cavalry Episcopal Church, 
Avinoff was among the first to congratulate him. Sadly, however, Nicholas was to see both of those close friends , Avianoff and MacGilvary, pass away in 1949.
A few years later, Petkovich died on 16 October 1952.
==Works==
From December 1955 and january 1956 a memorial exhibition of his art work was held in Pittsburgh.https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Memorial_Exhibition_of_the_Works_of_the/o66nHAAACAAJ?hl=enhttps://www.google.ca/books/edition/The_Western_Pennsylvania_Historical_Maga/1EbjAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Nicholas+Petkovich%22+-wikipedia&dq=%22Nicholas+Petkovich%22+-wikipedia&printsec=frontcover
Nicholas Petkovich's works are on display at Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and other collections are being sold on a regular basis.https://www.invaluable.com/artist/petkovich-nicholas-4kegs6w51b/
Category:1893 births
Category:1952 deaths
Category:American artists 
Category:American priests