Birch Tracery

Lev Khodchenko was a virtuoso landscape painter and master of lyrical compositions celebrating the beauty of nature.

A participant in art exhibitions — regional from 1947, all-union from 1950. Lev Khodchenko’s original paintings were exhibited more than a hundred times at shows both in Ukraine and abroad.

The artist was born in 1921 in the Odesa regioninto a family of teachers. From 1930 to 1934 he studied at the Kharkiv Art Institute under S. Prokhorov and M. Sharonov.

From 1934 to 1939, he continued his studies at the Kyiv Art Institute, where his mentors were F. Krychevsky, K. Yeleva, and S. Hryhoriev.

In 1939 he graduated from the Kyiv Art Institute, and that same year one of his paintings made its debut at the Institute's Graduate Exhibition.

A veteran of the Second World War, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star and several medals.

In 1945 he became a member of the Union of Artists of the Ukrainian SSR. He was named Honoured Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1990.

The artist passed away in 1998.

He worked in the field of easel painting, as a master of landscape and thematic composition. Among his well-known works are A Lane in Gurzuf (1958), Chernihiv Cathedral (1972), Rocky Shore (1990), Grandmother's Icons (1991), Fisherman's House (1994), and many others.

The artwork of Lev Khodchenko is held in state galleries in Kyiv, Lviv, Simferopol, and elsewhere, as well as in private collections across Ukraine, England, Canada, Poland, the USA, Italy, Hungary, Japan, China, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Israel, and Greece.

UFDA digitized Birch Tracery (1987) by the artist from the collection of the Regional Communal Museum of Local History in Borshchiv. This painting is now available for viewing on the fund's website.

The artist worked in the style of Socialist Realism with distinct elements of Impressionist landscape painting.

In his monumental and narrative canvases he celebrated industrialisation, the labour of youth, and historical themes. These Lev Khodchenko’s paintings  are characterised by powerful expressiveness, realism, and clear compositional structure.

As a master of virtuoso lyrical landscapes, Khodchenko moved away from strict academicism, employing broad, impasto brushwork and a deep, rich palette. This gave his depictions of nature — forests, rivers, and sea inlets — a particular airiness, luminosity, and a vivid, trembling sense of the fleeting moment.

The foundations of his craft were shaped by outstanding figures of the Ukrainian artistic tradition — Fedir Krychevsky and Serhiy Hryhoriev — whose influence could be felt in his assured draughtsmanship and attention to detail.