 | Mykola Vasylovych KRYCHEVSKY 1898 — 1961Микола Васильович КРИЧЕВСЬКИЙ • Николай Васильевич КРИЧЕВСКИЙMykola Krychevsky was born in Kharkiv in 1898. Ukrainian painter well known for his watercolors of Paris and Venice. His father was Vasyl Hryhorovych Krychevsky (1873-1952), an outstanding architect, painter, graphic artist and an enthusiastic student and collector of Ukrainian folk art, a founder and first president of the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts in Kyiv. As a young man Mykola Krychevsky expressed a great interest in theater and became an actor at the Sadovsky Theater, the first Ukrainian resident theater in Kyiv. In 1919 Mykola Krychevsky moved to Prague, where he lived for several years. In Prague Mykola completed his studies at the School of Industrial Design. In 1929 he moved to Paris, where he lived for the rest of his life. Mykola Krychevsky worked as a theatrical scenery designer and painter (Prosvita Theater, 1921-1923, in Uzhhorod; Théatre Hébertot, 1924; and Théatre des Arts, 1939, in Paris). He also worked as a wood engraver and book illustrator. Mykola Krychevsky painted in the neo-impressionist style. His most prolific output was in watercolors with which he embraced the grace and charm of Paris and Venice, the countryside and in later years, when he traveled across the Atlantic, the American landscape. Critics called his paintings "fresh, clear and bright." A French critic wrote: " With an always narrative but sensible brush stroke, the small pictures of this artist are works of a quiet and amiable charm" (Denis Chevalier, France Illustration, 1948). Another wrote: "Krychevsky - a painter of poetry. His watercolors posses a clarity and retinue, a limpidity which is not common for the artists of today" (Maurice Rostand, 1951). One of the unique characteristics of Krychevsky`s work is that even his oil canvasses have the lightness of watercolor. Mykola Krychevsky left a legacy of more than 7,000 paintings, which remain in museums and private collections throughout Europe, the United States and Canada. The artist died in Paris in 1961. This biography was compiled based on an article written by Marta Baczynsky and published in The Ukrainian Weekly, February 7, 1999, No. 6, Vol. LXVII. |
