Images(4)

Egg, Easter

Object number2014.99.1

Artist Andrew H. Pendro Jr.

Date1950-1959

MediumShell/Paint/Unknown

Credit LineGift of Marya Pendro-Thomson

DescriptionPysanky egg, otherwise known as Pysanka or a Ukranian Easter Egg, handpainted with geometric patterns in red, brown, black, and white.Dimensions2.313 x 1.75 x 1.75 x 1.75 in. (5.9 x 4.4 x 4.4 x 4.4 cm)
Historical NotesThe Pendro family immigrated from Austria-Hungary in the late 1800s, settling in Pittsburgh around 1890. George Pendro worked at the Carnegie-Illinois Edgar Thomson Works steel mill. His son, Andrew Pendro, Sr., worked in the same mill as the head motor inspector for over fifty years. This egg was made by Andrew H. Pendro, Jr. in the 1950s. Andrew was a Pittsburgh-based artist who used his skills while working in the fashion department of the Joseph Horne Company from 1963-1981. The word Pysanky is derived from a Ukranian word meaning "to write." Traditionally decorated Pysanky eggs are made during the last week of Lent, the Holy Week in the Orthodox Church. After the eggs are emptied, they are decorated using a wax resist method. The decorator uses a kiska, which has a hollow opening and a handle, to melt and draw with the wax. After each application of wax, the decorator dips the egg in a dye bath and continues drawing on the egg with wax. At the end, the wax is melted from the egg and the decoration appears. The colors and the designs that are created from the wax and the dyeing have many religiously symbolic meanings.

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