Vasyl Krychevsky

Vasyl Krychevsky
Krychevsky - 1928
Born	January 12, 1873 Vorozhba, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)
Died	November 15, 1952 Caracas, Venezuela
Nationality	Ukrainian
Other names	Василь Кричевський
Occupation	painter, architect, graphic artist

Vasyl Hryhorovych Krychevsky (Ukrainian: Василь Григорович Кричевський; January 12, 1873 in Vorozhba, Kharkov Governorate - November 15, 1952 in Caracas, Venezuela) was a Ukrainian painter, architect, art scholar, graphic artist, and master of applied art and decorative art. He was the brother of Ukrainian painter Fedir Krychevsky.

Life

Vasyl Krychevsky was born in the village of Vorozhba, near Lebedyn, to the family of a Jewish country doctor who converted to Orthodox Christianity and married a Ukrainian woman.

Krychevsky had little formal education, but a deep interest in Ukrainian folklore and art history. During the First World War, he was one of the founders and rectors of the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts.^[1] In the 1920s he taught at the Kiev Institute of Plastic Arts, the Kiev Architectural Institute, and the Odessa Art School. He then served in the architectural department of the Kiev State Art Institute until 1941.

Krychevsky moved to Lviv in 1943 where he was appointed a rector of a new Ukrainian art school, the Higher Art Studio. After the World War Two, he lived briefly in Paris before immigrating to South America in 1947.^[2] He died in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela on November 15, 1952.

Artistic career

Krychevsky first gained public recognition in 1903 when he won the architectural competition to build the Poltava Zemstvo Building (now the Poltava Regional Studies Museum). His design of the building was based on the traditions of Ukrainian folk architecture.^[3]

As a painter, he created a total of about 300 paintings.^[2] His work was influenced by French impressionism.^[4]

It was at the request of President Mykhailo Hrushevsky that Krychevsky designed the state emblems and seals of the Ukrainian People's Republic^[5] as well as the Republic's bank notes. Krychevsky was a collector and student of Ukrainian folk art, and promoted such handicrafts among common people.

From 1907 to 1910, Krychevsky designed sets and costumes for over 15 plays and operas including Mykhailo Starytsky's Bohdan Khmelnytsky and Bedřich Smetana's The Bartered Bride. From 1917–18 he worked with the Ukrainian National Theater.^[2]

References