Fedir Hryhorovych Krychevsky (; – July 30, 1947) was a Ukrainian early modernist painter. He was the brother of graphic designer Vasyl Krychevsky.

Biography

Krychevsky was born in Lebedyn, in the

Kharkov Governorate Kharkov Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire founded in 1835. It embraced the historical region of Sloboda Ukraine. From 1765 to 1780 and from 1796 to 1835 the governorate was called Sloboda Uk ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, to the family of a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish country doctor who converted to Orthodox Christianity and married a Ukrainian woman. He graduated from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1901 and the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1910. In 1911-12 Krychevsky visited the main art centres of Western Europe, studying the masterpieces of world art housed in the museums of Germany, Austria, France and Italy. He moved to

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, where he served as professor and director at the Kyiv Art School from 1914 to 1918. Founders of the Ukrainian academy of arts

In 1917, he was one of the founders and a rector (from 1920 to 1922) of the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts. When the academy was abolished, he worked as a professor at the Kyiv State Art Institute, eventually becoming its rector. He remained in Kyiv at the onset of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and kept his position at the institute, trying to save it in difficult conditions during the German occupation of Kyiv. He served as the chairman of the Union of Ukrainian Artists that tried to improve the conditions of artists during the occupation. He was extremely popular among the artist-colleagues, faculty at the institute and the students, and no one betrayed his Jewish origins to the German authorities, saving him from the

Babi Yar Babi Yar () or Babyn Yar () is a ravine in the Ukraine, Ukrainian capital Kyiv and a site of massacres carried out by Nazi Germany's forces during Eastern Front (World War II), its campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. The first and ...

massacre. He moved to

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

in the summer of 1943, to join his brother Vasyl. He attempted to flee west to escape the advancing Soviet troops, but the train in which he was traveling was overtaken. Krychevsky was arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

as a collaborator, but his interrogations have elicited nothing that could incriminate him, so he was stripped of all his titles and honors and sent to

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

to the village of

Irpin Irpin (, ) is a city on the Irpin River in Bucha Raion, Kyiv Oblast, northern Ukraine. It is located next to the capital Kyiv. Irpin hosts the administration of Irpin urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The city has a population o ...

near Kyiv where he died of starvation during the famine in 1947, despite the food help that was receiving from his student Tetyana Yablonska. Twelve years after his death Krychevsky was rehabilitated. In 1959 the first exhibition of his works was held in Kyiv, and information about his work began to be published.
Fedir Krychevsky
' at the ''

Encyclopedia of Ukraine The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' (), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies. Development The work was created under the auspices of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Europe (Sarcelles, near Paris). As the ...

Works

In total, he produced close to a thousand works, including narrative compositions,

portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

drawings Drawing is a visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, sometimes in com ...

. His early work remains the most valuable and appreciated part of his oeuvre. It was formed under the influence of

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (14 July 1862 – 6 February 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and a founding member of the Vienna Secession movement. His work helped define the Art Nouveau style in Europe. Klimt is known for his paintings, murals, sket ...

and

Ferdinand Hodler Ferdinand Hodler (March 14, 1853 – May 19, 1918) was a Swiss painter. He is one of the best-known Swiss painters of the nineteenth century. His early works were portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings in a realistic style. Later, he ad ...

and combined

Secessionist Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...

aesthetic principles with folk and

Icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

sensibilities. Krychevsky's draftsmanship is considered to be equal to that of Adolph Menzel. His later work, although solid in execution, suffered from ideological constraints of Socialist Realism. For 30 years, Krychevsky was one of the leading figures in Ukrainian art.Ukrainian government portal
''Famous people of culture and art'' In 1911 and 1913 he organized the first strictly Ukrainian art exhibitions. Beginning in 1897, his work was exhibited at over 34 shows in and outside Ukraine. He was also a successful teacher, whose students included many famous Ukrainian artists. Krychevsky's triptych "Life" remains one of the iconic examples of Ukrainian modernism. The work combines the elements

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

and Ukrainian Religious paintings. Each painting contains respectively eternal themes of life — love, achievement and loss. Krychevsky's modern touch to the pictures, like planar-linear rhythm and harmony of colors, enriched the paintings' classical interpretation. File:KrychevskyFedirSelfportrait.jpg, Self-portrait, 1923–24 Fedir Krychevsky - Life triptych - 1925-29.jpg, ''Life'' triptych, 1925–29

Influence

Krychevsky had many students throughout his long career, notably Boris Kriukow and Tetyana Yablonska. There is a street in Kyiv named in his honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krychevsky, Fedir 1879 births 1947 deaths People from Lebedyn People from Kharkov Governorate 19th-century Ukrainian painters 19th-century Ukrainian male artists Ukrainian male painters 20th-century Ukrainian painters 20th-century Ukrainian male artists Ukrainian Jews Jewish painters Symbolist painters Art Nouveau painters Soviet rehabilitations Academic staff of the National Academy of Visual Arts and Architecture Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture alumni Imperial Academy of Arts alumni