Vasyl Krychevskyi was a Ukrainian artist and architect, and one of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts founders. He created the state emblem of the Ukrainian People's Republic and was the brother of Fedir Krychevskyi.

Summary of Vasyl Krychevskyi 

One of the largest collections of Vasyl Krychevskyi's paintings is preserved at the Ukrainian Museum in New York, and a unique collection of his works can be seen at the Museum of the Ukrainian Diaspora in Kyiv.

Biography of Vasyl Krychevskyi

The artist was born in 1873 as the eldest of eight children. After training as a draftsman in a technical school, he worked with various architects, notably as the chief architectural assistant to Academician Oleksii Beketov.

Since 1907, he worked in Kyiv, creating a series of stylistically notable buildings, participating in the Ukrainian Art Exhibition (1911–1912), and illustrating several books. Among Krychevskyi’s most famous architectural projects in Kyiv are the house of Professor Mykhailo Hrushevsky and the House of Writers ("RoLit").

In 1917, he became one of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts founders.

In February 1918, the Bolsheviks shelled Hrushevsky's house, where the artist lived on the top floor with his family. The artwork of Vasyl Krychevskyi, including paintings, sketches, studies, and a unique ethnographic collection of folk art items, was destroyed. 

The artist emerged from depression when Mykhailo Hrushevsky, head of the Ukrainian Central Rada, invited him to design the state symbols of the Ukrainian People's Republic. For the emblem, Krychevskyi used the trident of Kyiv Prince Volodymyr as a base. The Ukrainian Central Rada approved this symbol as the coat of arms of the UPR.

He was an exceptional artist, despite lacking formal artistic education. Throughout his life, his works were exhibited in Ukraine and abroad. His last lifetime exhibition in his homeland took place in 1940 in Kyiv, where 1,055 of his works were displayed.

During World War II, he left Kyiv, first moving to Lviv and then later to Germany. In 1949, he moved permanently to Caracas, Venezuela, where he passed away on November 15, 1952.

Vasyl Krychevskyi’s Famous Paintings: Timeless Artworks

The artist created an extensive body of work. This includes three thousand larger and smaller pieces, primarily landscapes of Ukraine. His oeuvre was predominantly composed of oil studies. Among Vasyl Krychevskyi’s original paintings are “Autumn in Shyshaky” (1907), “The Roses” (1950), “The Weeping Willows. France” (1947), “Kislovodsk. The Caucasus” (1938), and “The Rose” (1910). 

Notably, a lot of works by artists belong to the collection of the Nykanor Onatskyi Regional Art Museum in Sumy. Additionally, Vasyl Krychevskyi’s paintings for sale are available at auction on the UFDA website. 

Vasyl Krychevskyi’s Art Style

The artist created a new Ukrainian architectural style — Ukrainian architectural modernism. In painting, he was a representative of lyrical "Ukrainian Impressionism." As mentioned by Ukraïner, Krychevskyi was inspired by French Impressionism and admired Chinese and Japanese art. At the same time, he considered himself an admirer of Italian masters of the 14th–15th centuries, particularly Giotto di Bondone and Pinturicchio. He also enjoyed the works of the Pre-Raphaelites, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Edward Coley Burne-Jones. However, he could not tolerate the realism movement that was popular in Russia at the time.

Vasyl Krychevskyi’s art also included book design. At the turn of the century, when Western European book graphics were seeking new directions, it was Krychevskyi who began creating concise, restrained, yet elegant and expressive cover designs that effectively highlighted the essence and mood of the publications. The artist is rightfully considered a founding figure in the field of book graphics.