Isabel Piczek

Isabel Helen Piczek (November 14, 1927 – September 29, 2016) was a Hungarian born ecclesiastical artist perhaps best known for her assay of the Shroud of Turin, and who lived in Los Angeles. Her sister, Edith Piczek, was next a noted religious artist.

Piczek, and her sister Edith, were born in Hungary, where her daddy was a noted performer and art professor, and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. After World War II, the sisters fled to Rome during the Communist tyranny in Hungary to pursue their behave in sacred art. There, whilst nevertheless only teenagers, they won a 1949 competition to paint a mural at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute.

By 1955 they were in Canada and brusquely after arrived in Los Angeles to pursue their comprehensive talents. In Las Vegas, Edith intended the 2,000 square-foot mosaic on the façade of Guardian Angel Cathedral that illustrated the roles of the Guardian Angel. Isabel created the Stained glass windows that picture the Stations of the Cross for the similar church. The two then collaborated on mosaics and the windows for Holy Family Cathedral in Orange, California and artwork in Saint Thomas Aquinas Cathedral in Reno, Nevada. Isabel created a 300 square foot figurative stained glass retrieve for the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

In 1992, Piczek was honored by Pope John Paul II in answer of her prolific artistic achievements, examples of which can be found in approximately 500 swing cathedrals, churches and additional buildings across the world. Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles, conferred upon Piczek entrйe into the Order of St. Gregory the Great, and the title Dame of Saint Gregory, whereby she became one of lonesome 70 Knights and Dames throughout the world to Keep this honor.